Harry Potter and the Animetopoeia
by girl.with.many.faces
Summary: Harry Potter was minding his own business, trying to avoid the Dursleys and lamenting the lack of letters from his friends when he was approached by a strange girl with multi-colored hair wearing a sailor girl's outfit. Her name is Animetopoeia, the goddess of Anime! Her plan is to change Harry's fate and send him to different worlds. So many X-overs...I was aiming for a record.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay! For anyone reading any of my stories, I may have monologued about a long, nine-hundred-page story which never ends…Here it is.**

**Hehe…I pity whoever starts reading this.**

**Things stay pretty much on track, it's just that there's no ending. Oh, sure Harry returns to his original world. He kicks dark lord butt and maybe even get's a bit of revenge…Sounds like most Harry Potter fanfics, right? Well, there's a few twists in there. For one thing, the anime doesn't stop with him returning to his own world.**

**Alright, I've warned you. Prepare for the fanfic that never ends.**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles, Bleach, Yu Yu Hakushou, Fairy Tail, The Cat Returns…And I don't remember which anime I used in this fic. I'll update the disclaimer as I go along. Oh! Seven Deadly Sins! I don't own that either.**

It was hot that summer on Private Drive. A massive heatwave had struck London that summer, and although it was relatively cool inside the house, Harry spend most of the time going on walks and generally keeping away from his relatives. Harry had been writing to his friends all summer and no one would respond to him.

Well, that was unfair, Hermione had written to him telling him that she couldn't write to him as it was too dangerous.

Harry snorted at that. Too dangerous how? He didn't even care anymore that they weren't going to talk to him about Voldemort or the war. He just wanted someone to talk to.

Even Sirius wasn't talking to him, and he always took risks to come see him! It was a little odd that he felt more betrayed over Sirius's not talking to him than Ron and Hermione's not talking to him. Harry pondered on this momentarily, then brushed it off in favour of rocking back and forth on a swing set.

"Hey."

Harry's head snapped up. A girl with purple, pink, and blue streaked hair stood in front of him. She looked…strange to say the least, in her sailor shirt and super short skirt, black high socks and vibrant purple and green boots with silver buckles.

But what startled Harry the most was the fact that he hadn't heard her approach at all.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but your name is Harry Potter, right?"

Harry nodded dumbly,

"Uh…yeah?"

The girl smiled, tilting her head to the side,

"You sound uncertain." She said humorously.

Harry shifted a bit. Was this girl a witch? She didn't really look like it. He hadn't met anyone with such vibrant hair before…it looked more like a muggle fashion than something a wizard might mistake for muggle fashion…if that made any sense.

"Yes," Harry said again, "I'm Harry Potter, who are you?"  
She grinned widely,

"I knew it! Sorry, I had to ask because I kind of made a mistake last time." She looked down at a black cat wrist watch and gave a small, curt nod, "Right on time too."

"What's right on time?" Harry asked confused, he then closed his eyes as the wind seemed to pick up.

Raising his arm in front of him, he opened his eyes to see something coming at them from a distance. The girl didn't look concerned though, in fact, she was smiling.

As it came into view, Harry had to blink his eyes a few times. It looked like a cat…or bus…like some weird cross in between. It stopped in front of them, eyes wide and yellow. Its fur was sandy with black stripes and it was…smiling. Could cats smile?

"Who are you?" Harry asked the girl, "And what about the muggles!? You can't just…"  
"Muggles?" the girl blinked a few times, "What's that?"

Harry closed his mouth, how could she not know what a muggle was? He gave her a strange look,

"Like…non-magical people?"

The girl gave Harry a strange look,

"That doesn't make sense. Everyone's magical, silly." She laughed, "Now are you going to get on, or what?"

Harry just looked at the cat-bus…thing, strangely,

"Why? Where are you taking me?"

The girl looked at him with a frown,

"You are Harry Potter, right?" a notebook appeared in her hand and she opened it up, scanning over the pages, "Yeah, right here, Harry Potter." She looked up at him expectantly.

"That's my name." Harry agreed, "Harry James Potter. But…who are you?"

The girl looked back down at her notebook and seemed to read something over a few times, muttering something under her breath. Her eyes widened,

"I see, that's what happened…" She looked back up at Harry, "Most people who know about me are otakus, anime fans, manga fans…you know?"

No, Harry really didn't know, and the girl could see it on his face.

"You can call me Animetopoeia, or Ana for short." She introduced, "I came into existence…sometime during the sixties I suppose." She smiled, tilting her head to the side, "I sure have changed since then…Not the point, bad Ana!" she knocked herself over the head gently with a closed fist and stuck out her tongue, winking one eye, "I know the names of everyone who has ever read a manga or watched an anime, whether they knew what they were watching or reading or not." She said factually, "Harry Potter, first anime was Pokémon, I believe."

Harry hesitated to say anything, he did vaguely remember watching something like that from the kitchen that one time.

"Anyways, the reason I'm here," the girl said, "You enjoyed Pokémon, you constantly tried to sneak a glimpse." Tears began falling down her face.

What was wrong with this girl? Harry wondered uncertainly. It was like she went from happy to sad in an instant.

"Love, friendship, standing up against impossible odds, hope, dreams, adventure, fighting for all that you believe in with all your heart. That's anime, that's manga that's what it is. But you've lost sight of all these things, and I'm not just talking about anime. You've lost sight of love, friendship, hope, dreams, all that." She frowned, "And I, as Animetopoeia cannot allow that at all." Her face broke into another wide grin, "That's why I'm here, I'm gonna show you all those things and more…plus, my list says you're in danger and will probably die before the age of seventeen, so…"  
"I'm gonna die before I become an adult!?" Harry shrieked, suddenly reminded of his relation to his aunt Petunia (Good god!).

"You won't if you come with me." Animetopoeia huffed, "And you don't need to shout. Goodness, you sure have a good set of lungs."

Harry blushed,

"But…where will the…catbus take me?" Harry asked, eying the creature (Vehicle?) wearily.

"To whatever anime that will aid you." Ana smiled, "They're all a world in their own right. When any artist puts their soul into their creation, that creation is given life. Humans are magical creatures, Harry." She danced around happily to the entrance of the bus,

"Now get on. You're about to go on an amazing journey." She paused, "Oh, and I'll be your lovely guide, of course."  
Harry got up off the swings, wondering if he really should go, he reached into his back pocket where his wand was.

He looked around at the dull scenery of Private drive and came to a decision. Harry stepped up onto the bus.

"Um, Ana?" Harry said, sitting down. The cat seemed to purr as Ana took a seat uncomfortably close to him.

"What is it, Harry?" she asked curiously.

"I…" Harry looked about, "I'm a wizard."  
"A wizard?" she asked, blinking her eyes rapidly and confused.

Harry took a wand out of his pocket, then, rather nervously cast a silent 'lumos' charm. The wand lit up and Ana clapped her hands.

"Incredible! Who knew that wizards actually existed? You're like a real life anime character!" she began bouncing a little in her seat. Then looked at the wand curiously, the notebook appeared back in her hands and she flipped through it,

"Let's see…what worlds are you assigned to go to? Ah! Wow, you sure have some interesting destinations. And what a weird order." She pouted, "Okay." She snapped the book shut, "Kitty, take us to the Tsubasa Chronicles!"

Harry tensed as the cat arched it's back down, letting out a loud yowl.

There was no way no one on Private drive didn't hear that, Harry thought.

The cat moved up and down, taking off into a super fast run that Harry didn't even think it capable of. Harry found himself jumping up and down in his seat with each turn and leap.

Then the cat simply disappeared beneath him.

He was floating. The world around him seemed to glow and warp into strange spiralling light. Harry gasped when he saw a boy with brown hair and brown eyes in a cloak floating in front of him. The boy looked just as surprised as Harry at the sudden appearance.

"Who are you?" a man who looked to be of obvious Asian descent in a black cloak and red head guard asked. He was just a bit behind the boy with the green cloak, along with a man with blond hair who smiled with squinty eyes. A girl in Pink appeared to be floating beside them, unconscious.

"Uh…" Harry said intelligently, before a bright white light seemed to engulf them all.

For a moment Harry saw something glowing in front of him. A giant stag that glowed green.

"Who…are you?" Harry asked confused, but before he could get anything from the creature, he woke up on the cold ground coughing.

The air was dusty, smoking. He let out an embarrassing squeak when he felt someone clutch his head and shoulders.

"Who are you?" a deep voice growled.

"Uh…" Harry mentally beat himself over the head, "I…my name is Harry."

"Harry?" the voice asked, then suddenly the weight was thrust off of him and Harry was able to turn around.

"Now, that's not very nice." A light airy voice said, tutting slightly.

Harry's focus moved to the smiling, squinty eyed blond man who had grabbed the angry Asian man with the red head guard off of him by the collar.

The man seemed to get out of the hold,

"Are you crazy, you could have choked me!?" the man shouted, suddenly seeming a lot less intimidating.

"You'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, Kuro-poo."

"Lay off! Wait…Kuro-poo, what the hell is that?" the man, 'Kuro-poo' shouted.

The blond shrugged helplessly causing the other man to scowl, reminding Harry vaguely of Snape.

"Hi there, I'm Fay." The blond introduced, but he seemed to be talking to the other people there as well, "I know we met before and all, but it's always nice to be formally introduced."

The brown haired boy nodded, clutching the girl in pink tenderly. She was very pretty, Harry thought.

"I'm Syaoran." The boy introduced, "This is Sakura."

"Kurogone." The Asian man in the head guard introduced reluctantly.

"I'm Harry." Harry introduced, "Harry Potter. Um…it's nice to meet you." He said awkwardly.

There was a small moan, then a pink looking bunny…thing seemed to jump up. Harry had thought it was some sort of plush toy at first. Just a part of the rubbish that was laying around.

It let out a moan,

"That wasn't supposed to happen." The bunny thing frowned, then looked at Harry, "Hey, you aren't supposed to be here!"

"Uh…" Harry said uncertainly, "I…I'm sorry." He apologized, "I honestly just sort of came here because of Ana."

"Ana?" the bunny asked.

"Yeah." Harry said, deciding the truth was the best way to go in this situation, "She said…I needed to learn something, and in order to do that somehow I got stuck here."  
The bunny shot Harry a strange look.

"Do you know what you're supposed to learn?" the strange blond asked Harry curiously.

Harry felt oddly suspicious of him, though he had been nice so far.

"Not…really. She said something along the lines of me loosing something important, that I didn't really understand what love, friendship and hope were anymore." He frowned, "I…I'm sorry, but where are we?"

"We don't know." Fay said, "We just landed here ourselves…at least it's not my world."

"It's not my world either." Kurogone grumbled.

"Not ours." Syaoran added in.

Harry looked around,

"It looks vaguely like mine." He admitted, "Besides all the destruction…"  
"Hey!"

They all turned to see a plain looking boy in a black uniform. His eyes were small and spaced widely apart.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy!? Get out of here before they start again!"

"Before who starts what?" Fay called back.

The boy looked nervous,

"Oh no, pray don't tell me you aren't from around here. The gangs. There's a gang war going on in this territory!"  
"Gang war?" Harry looked around, reaching for his wand absently.

Kurogone's eyes narrowed at Harry's sudden alertness. Fay seemed to notice as well, eyes opening slightly, but with a passive expression on his face.

"Her face is so cold." Syaoran murmured out loud.

"About that," Fay said, then reached out and grabbed something off of Syaoran's cloak, "Would this be one of the girl's feather's?"

Syaoran's eyes widened, "Yeah, that's it…but that's quite a coincidence."

"Coincidence is a myth, my friend." Fay said, causing Syaoran to jerk slightly and look at Fay with wide eyes.

"There are no coincidences, there is only inevitability." Fay smiled, "Remember, that's what Yuuko said. I guess she knew what she was talking about."  
Just then Harry noticed a fat looking man with a pink Mohawk that seemed to divide into two parts upwards. He wore a leather jacket and pants, much like the group of other men who came up from behind him.

Definitely lackeys, Harry thought, and the man with pink hair was the boss.

Another man, he looked younger with silver hair tied back into a pony tail and wearing goggles up on his forehead stood up opposite him on top of another mound of carnage. His kerchief around his neck seemed to blow in the breeze. He had a calm smirk on his face, and behind him were his own lackeys all wearing goggles either around their necks, over their eyes, or up on their head.

"Shogo!" the man in the leather jacket called out, "Today is the day, all or nothing. You aren't getting this territory."

"Oh?" the man with silver hair looked up with a smirk on his face.

"Get ready!" the man in the leather jacket said, "Fire!"  
Balls of light formed at the fists of the people on both sides of the fight, they shot out and Harry's eyes widened. Could it be some sort of wandless magic? He calmed himself down slightly. It could be another sort of power…

"Watch out!" Mokona shouted, just as a ball of the light energy hit right in front of Fay and Syaoran. The feather Fay had been holding out to Syaoran was drawn into the air.

"Syaoran!" Harry shouted as the boy in the green cloak jumped up and began chasing the feather, right into the middle of the battle.

"Why would he do that?" the plain looking boy seemed confused.

Harry looked a little confused himself. Why? Fay leaned back in his spot,

"People do peculiar things for love." The blond said softly. The small eyed boy looked down at the girl in the pink clothing.

"He's doing this…for her?" he wondered.

Harry looked at the girl in pink curiously. She was unconscious, but her face looked so…gentle. Like it had never been formed into a harsh expression all her life. What was so special about that feather? Harry wondered.

"Watch out!" Mokona shouted again.

But Harry was ready this time. He whipped out his wand,

"Protego!" he shouted.

A shield formed around them, letting the orb of light bounce right off them. Fay looked at Harry with surprise,

"You're a wizard?" he asked curiously.

Harry looked back at Fay,

"Um, yes." He shrugged slightly, not sure what he ought to say, "I'm still learning though. Are you a wizard too?"

Fay regained his smile,

"It just so happens that I am. I refuse to use magic though…not anymore."

Harry blinked a few times, something about that statement sounded…ominous. His attention snapped back to Syaoran, he let out a gasp when a ball seemed to hit him, only to be burned away when Syaoran caught fire.

Harry watched in awe when a wolf like creature made of fire appeared in front of him. With a lack of expression, Syaoran spoke,

"Thank you for saving me." He said much to calm for someone who had just put his life on the line, "I have no right to ask this of you, but will you please help me protect Sakura?"

The creature nodded, then took off to the sky, fighting off the light orb things.

"Woah, your friend has a kudon too."

"A kudon?" Harry asked looking over at the small eyed boy.

"Yeah, and from what I can tell it's a really powerful one." He said in a rather serious tone.  
Harry's attention went back to the fight, where Syaoran's kudon, or whatever it was called, managed to overpower the light orb things, sending them everywhere.

"Retreat!" the gang leader in the leather jacked ordered.

Harry watched with awe as all the men ran away from the fight. Well, accept 'Shogo' and the guys who were wearing goggles.

"Impressive!" Shogo called down, looking at Syaoran, "My name is Shogo Asagi." He introduced, "And what do you call yourself."

Syaoran looked up at Shogo and answered without hesitation,

"Syaoran."

"Well, Syaoran." Shogo said, he glowed blue a moment, then a giant stingray kudon appeared above him, "Do you know what happens when water meets fire?" he smirked, "If you didn't before, then you're about to find out."

Harry watched with anticipation as the two stared each other down. Then he heard the distant sound of sirens.

"Shit, Shogo, it's the cops!" one of the gang members said.

"That's terrific." Shogo said sarcastically, "Let's fight later, Syaoran." He smiled, and Harry was a little surprised to see it wasn't malicious. He watched on confused as Shogo and his gang fled.

"He didn't seem…bad." Harry said uncertainly.

Fay noticed his confusion,

"There are different reasons for fighting, Harry." Fay said, calling his attention, "It seems that Shogo saw something in Syaoran that he liked. Some people fight to get better, or because they admire their opponent. It doesn't have to be for bad reasons." His eyes opened slightly, and Harry caught sight of blue, curious orbs that made him seem far more serious than he had been before, "You seem like the type who hasn't had that sort of fight though."

Harry nodded hesitantly,

"I've had…duels, I suppose, but they were just for school." He admitted, "They weren't a fight, you know?"

"I do." Fay smiled, "A spar and a fight are two different things. A spar gives us time to work and improve, to notice our imperfections and work on getting better during the time we spend doing it. But in a fight, you aren't focused on yourself, but your opponent. Right?"

Harry nodded hesitantly, it was weird hearing it worded like that. Fay looked him over curiously,

"You don't do a lot of physical training, do you?"

Harry shook his head hesitantly and Fay hummed,

"You have the instincts…but there's more to fighting than just waving a wand…and I'm assuming that's your conduit." Fay said eyeing the wand in his hand.

"Um, yes. It is." Harry nodded.

"You thinking about taking the kid under your wing?" Kurogone sneered.

Fay shrugged,

"Don't know. Do you want me to teach you a bit about fighting, Harry?" Fay asked tilting his head to the side slightly.

Harry wasn't sure what to do at first. He opened his mouth to say something when he remembered what Ana had told him.

"You probably won't live past your seventeenth birthday as you are now…."

"I…" Harry blinked, "Would you? I mean…" he looked down almost ashamed, "I…there's someone after me. He killed my parents and…he's been planning my death ever since I was one. Ana told me, she was sending me here so that I could learn."

Kurogone raised an eyebrow,

"And why is this man after you? You were just one, right?"

Harry suddenly felt frustrated,

"I don't know." He admitted, "No one…no one ever tells me anything. I feel like I'm the only one back home who doesn't know why he's after me."

Kurogone's eyes narrowed,

"Then find out on your own. It's your life on the line, kid. Do what you can to survive."

Harry looked away from his penetrating gaze,

"People keep telling me I shouldn't know." He said uncertainly.

Kurogone raised an eyebrow,

"Then those people are idiots."

"They say I'm too young." Harry murmured.

"You're old enough to wield a weapon, and fight a war." Kurogone said, "Get up off your ass and quit making excuses."

Harry shook slightly,

"Yeah…I…" something inside him seemed to harden and he looked up at Fay with determination, "Please teach me whatever you can. I want to live through the war when I return."

Fay smiled brightly,

"Alright, Harry. I can't teach you a lot about magic, but we will work in that area. Of course our training will be more physical training."

Harry smiled brightly,

"Thank you, Fay."  
Fay smiled,

"Not a problem. It seems we're going to be stuck with each other for a while anyways. We might as well do something to pass the time."

"There you are." A man said, approaching them from behind. A pretty and quite looking woman walked beside him.

"My name is Sorota and this is my lovely wife, Arashi. We were sent here by Yuuko." He grinned.

"Yuuko?" Fay asked, "You're acquainted with the dimensional witch?"

Sorota grinned,

"Yeah, we kind of owe her big. So we came here to offer you lodging." He explained, "It would do no good to sleep out on the street. Especially that girl, Sakura, right?"

The boy with the small eyes was apparently called 'Masayoshi' which Harry thought sounded a lot like a Japanese name. Thinking on this a little, Kurogone, Syaoran and Sakura all sounded a lot like Japanese names.

Wasn't 'Anime' Japanese? He wasn't entirely sure, not having paid much attention to the muggle world after he began attending Hogwarts. It was then that he remembered what Ana had told him, about people being magic and imagination bringing worlds to life.

He wondered if he'd be able to obtain the manga or anime Fay and the others were from. What had Ana called it? He couldn't remember. He supposed he could ask her later…

Arashi and Sorota had given them some new clothes, some which actually fit Harry rather well. The couple had insisted he keep the outfit, considering he had been clad in his cousin's rags before. He now wore a pair of blue jeans, a rather gothic looking black shirt with a skull and a dark blue sweatshirt overtop to pull it all together. Not exactly something he thought he'd ever manage to pull off.

Apparently they were Sorota's old clothes from when he was in junior high when he'd gone through a 'faze.'

Masayoshi took them to an okonomiyaki restaurant. Harry had never had okonomiyaki before, but it sounded interesting.

As soon as Syaoran met the chefs though, he started acting weird.

"Your majesty!" he exclaimed suddenly.

Harry shot Syaoran a confused look. The pancake chef? A king? Was there something going on that he wasn't getting?

Syaoran didn't exactly seem like the joking type...and the pancake chef looked equally confused.

Syaoran reddened slightly,

"Sorry…you look a lot like someone from my home country." He murmured.

The man smiled slightly in understanding,

"I see. You're not from around here then?"

"None of us are." Harry said, speaking up.

"Yeah, you all have an accent." The chef added, "It's not really noticeable though, except with you." He said to Harry.

"How about I get you a seat." The waiter, a man with silver hair and round spectacles, much like Harry's suggested.

He led them to a window booth.

"So what was that back there?" Harry asked Masayoshi curiously.

"Well, this place has a lot of gangs, you know, they fight over territory and stuff. Shogo's gang isn't all that bad though. He actually protects us from the bad guys, protecting those that are weaker than them and stuff." Masayoshi explained.

Harry tilted his head, he'd never heard of a 'good' gang before. But Shogo hadn't seemed all that bad when they'd met him.

"The other gang leader you saw, Kanio, he's always picking on those weaker than him." Masayoshi said, clutching his glass slightly, "Him and Shogo have been fighting over that particular territory for a while now. Shogo has been trying to steel all of Kanio's territory from what I can tell, that's why things are so heated between the two of them. If one falls the rest will, and it will be a lot easier to snatch more territory and stuff." Masayoshi reddened, "Or, that's what I've been able to tell."

Their food arrived and Harry was a little troubled by the whole chopsticks thing. Fay watched him amused,

"Never used chopsticks?" he guessed.

Harry flushed,

"You could tell?" he joked, "I come from Britain and it's usually just forks, knives and spoons over there."

Fay hummed,

"Here." He said grabbing his hand and putting it into the proper hold, "Hold this part like a pencil, there, like that."  
Harry still struggled with it, but it was easier than before.

"That's going to take some getting used to." He sighed, then managed to get some food into his mouth. Even Kurogone thought it was funny.

"Right, I've been meaning to ask, what's up with that feather you got yesterday? I saw it vanish inside Sakura, that's that girl's name, right?" Harry asked Syaoran who nodded, jaw clenched.

"Sakura…her soul was shattered, turned into feathers, then placed in different worlds. I need to travel to find all her feathers, each one is a memory."  
Harry raised an eyebrow,

"And…she didn't have any before?" Harry asked, thinking back to what he knew about souls, but that was only limited to the soul sucking creatures called dementors which fed off of happy memories.

"Does that mean anything to you, Harry?" Fay asked him curiously.

Harry shook his head,

"No, not really. I was trying to figure out if I knew anything that might help." He admitted, "In my world there are these…creatures which eat souls. Dementors. They slowly suck out your happy memories. The only time they lower their hoods, er, they kind of looked like cloaked figures." Harry elaborated, "And the only time their lower their hoods is when they give you the 'kiss.' They basically suck out your soul."  
Kurogone raised an eyebrow,

"And how do you kill them? I'm guessing there's a method, otherwise your world would be run over by them."

"There isn't a way to kill them that's known." Harry said slowly, "But there is a way to repel them, the patronus charm. They can be reasoned with and controlled too. I know the ministry of magic has them guarding the prison of Azkaban."

"They feed off the prisoners?" Fay asked grimly.

Harry nodded,

"Yeah…what's worse is my godfather was thrown into that place for about twelve years. Until he managed to escape. First person to ever do it too."

Kurogone raised an impressed eyebrow.

"Then he must have had some way to dampen the effects, I imagine." Fay reasoned out loud.

"He's an animagus." Harry said, "A wizard with the ability to turn into an animal. Animal emotions tend to be less complex than human emotions. His form is a big black dog. But he was skinny enough at the time to slip through the bars. Then after walking out, he swam from the island prison to shore."

"Impressive." Kurogone said admiringly.

"Why was he in prison?" Syaoran asked curiously, "That is…if it's no trouble…"  
"It's fine." Harry said, noting how formal Syaoran seemed to be, "He was wrongly imprisoned for killing thirteen mu-people and betraying my parents to Voldemort. Um, the man who tried to kill me when I was a baby." Harry added.

"How do you know he was wrongly convicted?" Kurogone challenged.

"Because I found the real killer, a man who was supposed to be dead. He confessed to everything, but he was an animagus too. A rat animagus." Harry sneered, glaring down at his food.

"You need better control over your emotions, kid." Kurogone said.

Fay said looked at Kurogone, "Coming from the man who basically attacked Harry here when he first met him."  
Kurogone shrugged,

"Suspicions first, question everything. I wasn't about to just let him try to attack us or something."

Fay smiled a bit wider, while Mokona, the weird bunny creature jumped up on the table from his (Her?) spot on Masayoshi's lap.

"I thought Harry was suspicious too. I even contacted Yuuko about it. She said it was okay though."

"Oh?" Fay asked and Harry knew he was fishing for information, "She knew about Harry's arrival, then?"

Mokona shook his head,

"No, she had no idea Harry would be here." And it was obvious from his voice that he was rather confused about that, "She had no idea at all. But she said his presence might be a good thing. She said he's here to learn a lesson, but she didn't say anything more."

"Who's Yuuko?" Harry asked curiously, "You mentioned her before…"  
"She's a witch." Kurogone said distastefully, "She'll grant any wish, but for a price of equal value."

"You're just upset that she took your sword." Fay teased, then turned back to Harry, "You see, Harry. We all made a wish with Yuuko. Syaoran's wish was to travel from place to place looking for Sakura's memories. Kurogone's wish was to return to his home world. My wish was to travel to any world but my own."  
Harry looked at Fay curiously,

"You're on the run?"

Fay nodded,

"I sealed away a powerful mage into a deep sleep in my home world…when he wakes up he's going to try to find me."

Harry realized he was being purposefully vague, but decided not to press the matter.

"Anyways," Kurogone interrupted them, "I want you to meditate with me." He told Harry who looked at the man in surprise.

"Why?" Harry asked.

Kurogone grumbled,

"Ally or not, I'm not going to have a companion who losses control at the slightest provocation. Learning to clear your head, and getting your mind sorted out greatly helps."

Harry decided he should probably take the offer. Half thinking it might actually be useful, and half not wanting Kurogone to murder him in his sleep because he refused.

"I think I might be able to sense the feathers." Mokona said.

"Really?" Syaoran asked, all attention on the pink rabbit thing.

"Uh huh. I picked up the energy from the last one you found and I think I felt it again on the bridge."

"The same feather?" Fay asked.

"Nuh uh, this one was different." Mokona insisted, "But I can't sense it now. I remember it just seemed to disappear."

"It disappeared?" Harry wondered how that was possible. Maybe it was blown away.

"Yeah, like in a 'pop'!" Mokona explained.

Fay placed two fingers to his chin,

"How strange, I wonder what that could mean…" 


	2. Chapter 2

After they paid for their meals, Masayoshi left them to return home while the group began wandering around aimlessly.

"Tomoyo." Kurogone said, freezing on the spot, then he took off running.

"Hey, wait!" Syaoran shouted.

"Just leave it, Syaoran." Fay said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"You think he saw someone he recognised from his world." Syaoran asked Fay.

"Maybe." Fay hummed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked then, "How could someone from his world be here?"

Fay looked at Harry hesitantly,

"I suppose you don't know anything about dimensional travel then?" When Harry shook his head, Fay explained, "Basically, everyone in this world is a parallel of everyone else in all the other world. They share the same face, same body, same soul. But they won't recognise us." Fay shrugged, "Because we've never really met."  
Harry nodded,

"So…Kurogone saw someone like that?" he reasoned.

"Most likely." Fay agreed, "Now then, Harry. Why don't we try a bit of training, hm?"

Harry nodded,

"Uh, where?"

"I was thinking that park over there." Fay pointed, "Syaoran, care to join us?"

The boy looked around a bit, as though hoping a clue to Sakura's feather would just come into existence. Syaoran finally sighed,

"I guess I can't do much about Sakura's feather now, can I? Alright." He agreed, "I know a bit about hand to hand combat already."  
"I could tell." Fay said, "The way you move is very fluid. Purposeful."  
Syaoran didn't say anything, but Harry shot him a curious look.

"Now, you Harry." Fay looked at him, "You move strangely sometimes. It's like you know a bit about combat, but you were never really taught."  
Harry shrugged,

"I've mostly used magic as a weapon to get out of situations." He admitted, feeling sheepish for some reason. Fay gave him a small disapproving look,

"I know that magic can be very useful, but it's not something that should be used for everything. The body, mind, and magic are all connected. It's important to train all of them."

Harry nodded, suddenly aware of how skinny and unmuscular he really was. He could run for a while. Actually he was quite fast, at least faster than the average kid. He'd been running from Dudley since he was little so he wasn't exactly out of shape.

He had a high pain tolerance too after all those times he'd been beaten down.

They arrived at the park and they started on their training. They started with some basic stretches. Syaoran was amazingly flexible, it was rather impressive really.

After they had warmed up a bit, Fay got him to punch. Harry was a bit surprised to find he'd been doing it wrong all along. The thumb ought to go on the outside of the hand otherwise it could get crushed. Fay showed him a few casual stances and appeared to be rather impressed, as was Syaoran.

"You're a natural, Harry." Fay said, "It seems you have a better awareness of your body than most people."

Harry smiled proudly. He had always been more aware of how his body worked. But a big part of it was due to the fact that he had a feeling he'd be in a fight soon. He didn't want to end up completely defenseless. Harry considered this a moment, realizing he'd always learned rather fast under pressure.

By the time it was getting dark and the sun was about to set. Fay and Syaoran had a spar, to show Harry the difference in fighting styles.

It was impressive to say the least. Fay's movements were fluid and graceful. Syaoran's was a bit rougher and relied heavily on acrobatics. Harry also noticed that he preferred kicks to punches.

The next morning Harry woke up early to go for a run. Fay said he needed to increase his physical ability, and exercise was the quickest way. After his run, he took a quick shower, then Kurogone helped him meditate. Somehow, the day before, Kurogone had gotten a giant sword and had taken to polishing it. Fay seemed to hint that it was actually a kudon. It made sense, and only half surprised him when the thing vanished into thin air.

It was difficult to completely clear his mind. He'd never really sat still with nothing to do before. Eventually Kurogone seemed to get annoyed with his twitching and gave him some more advice.

"Acknowledge your thoughts." Kurogone said impatiently, "Then move on. Don't just try and ignore whatever thoughts pass though your head. It's just going to make you frustrated."

Harry nodded, then stopped himself from moving, a bit worried that the swordsman might lose his temper and stop the training.

Fay taught him some more fighting techniques, then they set out again to look for Sakura's feather. Kurogone actually joined them in their search this time.

"Syaoran!" Arashi's voice called, causing them to turn their heads when they were on the bridge.

"What is it?" Syaoran asked as she came running up to them.

Her face was pale with worry, a new look for her, considering up until then she had been almost emotionless.

"It's Sakura." She said panting as she came to a stop, she straightened up, "She's missing. I came up to check on her and change her sheets but…when I got there she was gone. She must have woken up and…"  
Syaoran's eyes widened.

"Let's split up and look for her." Fay decided, "Thank you for warning us, Arashi." He told the woman gratefully.

She gave a small nod.

Syaoran took off without another word into a run. Harry decided to go off in another direction and he vaguely watched as Fay and Kurogone split.

"Where could she have gone?" Harry wondered out loud, "Stranded in an unfamiliar world with no memories…"

He didn't know Sakura all that well to begin with. If he was in her situation…Harry supposed, he might try and find something familiar. But what would be familiar?

After hours of searching, Harry went back to the bridge to see if anyone else had had any luck. Fay and Kurogone were there.

"Did you find her?" Fay asked them both.

"No." Harry said worriedly, "I thought she'd probably be looking for something familiar…but I don't know her well enough to make any sort of deduction." He admitted.

Fay nodded in agreement.

"Does it look like she's standing next to me?" Kurogone grumbled when Fay shot him a questioning look. It was clear that Kurogone was worried too though.

"Just thought I'd check. By the way, your turn." Fay said handing Kurogone Mokona, "Our little guide here can be quite the handful. But I think he's taken quite a liking to you. Must be your nurturing personality."

Harry had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing. Then Kurogone put Mokona upside down in his breast pocket.

"I'll show you nurturing. There." He said proudly.

Harry shook his head at their antics. A moment later he heard footsteps rapidly approaching from behind him and turned to see Syaoran.

"Did you find her?" he asked nearly out of breath.

"No, sorry." Fay said sympathetically.

"Hey, Syaoran!" Masayoshi called.

"Masayoshi." Syaoran acknowledged.

"I-I saw Sakura." The boy huffed, leaning over his knees tiredly, "She was eating okonomiyaki with Kanio and one of the other guys in his gang."  
Syaoran's eyes widened and he took off again, only to be stopped.

"Syaoran, wait!" Masayoshi said abruptly, "They're gone." He paused, "But I know how to find them."

That was when Masayoshi began to glow with a white-blue light, then a strange person who looked much like him appeared in thin air.

"This is my kudon." Masayoshi explained, it began to glow and close it's eyes, "My specialty is finding things. It's not really strong or anything, but it has it's uses." He said though Harry could detect a bit of sadness in his voice.

"Got her." Masayoshi said at last, "She's by the peers. Warehouse eleven on the south side." He declared.

When they got to the pier they were just in time to see Sakura falling from the sky headfirst.

"Sakura!" Syaoran shouted, then took off at an impressive speed.

Harry watched, fascinatedly as he jumped into the air and caught her, landing in a one knee crouch. It was like he was a prince, holding his princess. Harry shook himself, feeling a tad startled at the comparison. Syaoran looked no older than him, really.

Frantically, Syaoran began checking Sakura over for any bruises or scrapes. He didn't hear of see Shogo approach him, flying down from the sky on his kudon.

"She said she was looking for her feather." He said simply causing Syaoran to jerk his head up and look at him.

"Imagine my surprised when she starts glowing then flying away."

"She flew away?" Harry wondered to himself.

Fay hummed from beside him,

"It seems that even with the one small fragment of a soul she had, Sakura instinctively went out searching for her memories."

Harry watched as Syaoran picked Sakura up into his arms, looking down at her face with such affection that it almost scared the green eyed boy. Harry didn't quite understand; he had never before seen anyone look at another person like that. Something inside Harry sparked and his confusion turned to longing. He hoped that one day someone would look at him like that too, and that maybe he could look at someone that same way.

That night, Harry went to sleep with a head full of restless thoughts.

The next day the four of them resumed their search of Sakura's feather. Harry was actually rather hoping Sakura could wake up soon so that he could meet her. He was curious as to what sort of person she might be that Syaoran would go searching for her soul fragments.

"Why are we heading back to the bridge anyways?" Kurogone grumbled.

"'Cause that's where Mokona last sensed the feather." Fay replied.

Kurogone looked doubtful,

"I thought that was a dream."  
"No it wasn't." Mokona said from it's spot on Fay's shoulder, "I realised it later."

Harry just looked at the strange pink blob incredulously. That didn't seem like very reliable information to go off of…not that they had anything to go off of anyways.

"Did you make up your mind you little…"  
"Now Kuro-buro," Fay said, "We don't want to cause a scene."  
"Kuro-buro?" Kurogone shot him a glare and Harry chuckled a little bit.

That was when Harry noticed someone approaching them again from the distance.

"Hey, Syaoran!" it was Masayoshi running up to them with his kudon flying behind him.

"Masayoshi." Syaoran acknowledged.

"What's up?" Harry asked curiously.

Masayoshi grinned,

"I wanted to help you…I mean, you guys said you were trying to find something that would help Sakura, right?"

"Yeah, a feather." Syaoran answered, "It's really important that we get it back."

Before anyone could get another word in edgewise, the wind picked up and all of them shielded their eyes. A giant metal bird thing swooped down from the sky. The next thing Harry knew, Masayoshi and Mokona were being carried away.

"Help!" Masayoshi cried out.

"You've got to be kidding!" Harry said as they became nothing more than a dot in the distance.

Syaoran grabbed a note of paper that drifted back and forth in the wind. The metal bird kudon seemed to have left it behind.

"If you want your friend back he'll be at Hanshin Palace." Syaoran said, and then something strange happened, "Ninyo Sanjinto tai lan." He said showing them the note.

Harry blinked a few times,

"Come again?" he asked.

"Lavri avidra." Fay said, "A falai la voilivu des kan?"

"What?" Harry wondered, "You…aren't making fun of me…are you?"

"Goro iie sora." Kurogone scowled, and Harry had the sense that he'd asked the same thing he just had.

Why couldn't they understand each other anymore? Harry wondered. Now that he thought about it, they did all come from different worlds. It would make sense that they didn't speak the same language…so what changed?

"Mokona!" Fay, Kurogone and Syaoran exclaimed together.

Harry's eyes widened with realization. Mokona had somehow been acting as their translator, not that Harry had any idea how that might work…

"We need to go." Harry said, then made a gesture, "Um…I" he pointed to himself, "Saw." He pointed to his eyes, "Map." He never was any good at charades, but they seemed to get what he was trying to say, "That way." Harry pointed.

They followed him down off the bridge and towards a map. Harry frowned, realizing he couldn't read the map at all. Kurogone and Syaoran seemed to understand the symbols though. He wondered if maybe their language was similar as well.

"Ni syo li." Syaoran said pointing off in a particular direction.

Harry figured he wanted them to follow. After a good twenty minutes, then had to stop again at another map posted near the castle.

"It looks like we're getting closer." Syaoran murmured.

"Yeah, I can see the castle now." Kurogone said.

Then realization seemed to dawn on them.

"We can understand each other." Harry noted.

"It seems Mokona must be near." Fay observed.

As they followed the path to the castle, Harry heard someone…singing.

"Look at me! I'm so high, in the sky. Like a bird, see me fly!"

If you could call that singing. There was rhythm to it…sort of, but the melody…It was definitely Mokona singing too.

"We need to get them down." Syaoran said firmly.

"And interrupt the fur ball's song? You're so heartless." Kurogone said sarcastically. Harry snorted, but there was no way they were leaving the two of them up there.

"If I can get close enough I might be able to levitate them down." Harry suggested.

"You'd have to sever the ropes too." Fay added in, "But that should be easy enough. We wouldn't have to go up there on our own that way."

Three people appeared on the balcony of the castle, aiming their fists at the three of them. One of them smirked,

"Fire!" he called.

Yellow lights appeared at their fists and fired off.

_I need to protect them!_ Harry thought desperately. His chest seemed to warm.

_You wish to protect your friends? Very well._ A white light appeared, surrounding Harry, then suddenly the lights were stopped. Harry gazed wide eyed at a giant and elegant looking stag with green fur, flowers bloomed on it's antlers and vines crept up it's body.

"Whoo, Harry, it looks like you've discovered your kudon." Fay said impressed…or at least Harry thought he was impressed; it was rather difficult to tell with Fay sometimes.

"Get ready boys!" one of the three men on the balcony shouted.

They poured their power together and a big metal bird appeared, the same one that had kidnapped Masayoshi and Mokona.

Harry knew he'd have to get the thing somehow, maybe charge it? As though his kudon knew what he was thinking, and Harry suspected it did. The stag kudon charged the metal bird thing and took it out, it shattered and one of the men fell down to the ground clutching at his chest.

The stag came back to Harry, turning into a ball of light and fazing inside of him. Harry blinked a few times, a bit surprised.

"Well, boys," a girl with silver hair drawn back into a bizarre two buns with her long hair falling down style, "It looks like you couldn't handle them after all." She grinned, and Harry noticed that there wasn't really anything malicious behind her smile either.

Harry flushed a bit when he realized he could see her panties from under her pink skirt as she lifted up one leg to rest on the bottom wooden beam railing of the balcony.

"Hold on," Kurogone said, "Who the heck are you?"

The three men behind her gasped.

"If you don't know who Primera is, you don't deserve to have a pulse." One of them said.

"She's singer, a danger and an actress too. Everyone knows who Primera is."

"She's the biggest celebrity in the entire country! And on top of that, she's got a really strong kudon."

They spoke like they were proud. Harry noted, if he had to make a guess, he'd say that they were fans or something. They didn't exactly look like hired kidnappers.

"But enough about me." Primera said, "What kept you guys. I've been waiting."

Syaoran looked up at her horribly confused, and Harry didn't blame him, he was pretty lost himself. Then at last, he stepped forward,

"We came here looking for our friends, Mokona and Masayoshi." Syaoran said firmly.

Primera looked confused now,

"His name's Masayoshi?" she pointed up above her, "But the boy's supposed to be Syaoran."

Harry snickered slightly, it seemed there had been a bit of a mistake.

"Well he isn't, I'm Syaoran." Syaoran stated.

There was a long bout of silence, when Primera suddenly took out a paper fan and began smacking the three men with it,

"We're sure it's him, you said! Are you two idiots, do I need to do everything myself!?" she shouted.

"Syaoran, what did you do to make yourself an enemy of a famous idol? We've only been here a few days." Harry deadpanned.

Syaoran shrugged,

"No idea…" he looked back up at Primera, "If it's me you want, then please let Masayoshi and Mokona go."

"Oh no." Primera said, then with an impressive show of balance, jumped up onto the beam off the balcony, "If you want those two back then you're gonna have to fight me for them."  
There was a bit of a pause,

"Is she serious?" Syaoran wondered.

"I'm guessing she means fight with kudon." Harry added in helpfully, but even he didn't think that was a particularly good idea anyways, "They did say she has a powerful one."

She shot them a wink and Fay stood out in front of Syaoran, pushing the boy back with his hand.

"Let me take care of this, Syaoran." He said, still smiling airily.

"Are you sure, Fay?" Syaoran asked, and to Harry it seemed that he didn't want people fighting his battles for him.

"Don't worry, I won't be alone. I'll have the help of my kudon." He assured.

Harry looked at Fay blankly wondering when he had the time to get a kudon. A giant white bird appeared behind him in a glow of light.

"That's yours?" Syaoran asked with surprise.

"Well, I was wondering when he'd get a pet of his own." Kurogone said blandly, and it seemed he wasn't at all surprised.

The bird's head rested over Fay's shoulder. Fay stroked its beak a few times gently then looked up at Primera.

"So," he said, "Shall we start?"

The bird spread its wings and let out a mighty cry that nearly had Harry covering his ears. But he restrained himself. The bird glowed, then turned into an orb of light and went into Fay, who was outlined momentarily in the same light. Harry watched with awe as he was lifted up off the ground. He started to fly upwards.

"Wait there," Fay said, "I'll be right back."

Harry's mouth fell open with awe.

"He's flying." He said dumbly.

"Looks like just about anything can happen, with these kudon." Kurogone said, once again unsurprised.

A pang of jealousy shot through Harry who absolutely loved to fly, himself. He loved his broom, sure, but to fly unhindered and on one's own. That was like a dream!

"Hey, no fair!" Primera stomped her foot. It seemed Harry wasn't the only one who was jealous by the display, "You can fly? Even I can't do that!" She huffed, "Oh well, I bet you can't do this." She smirked, the swirled around on her spot, making Harry a little worried that she might fall off, "My kudon supper sound check! And show time." She thrusted her hand up, palm first. There was a swirl of energy, then a megaphone appeared in her hand.

Fay appeared a bit surprised by the display, and Harry could vaguely see him getting ready for just about anything.

"Now," Primera said, "Presenting, the sensational Primera with her new hit single. _Get the fly boy!"_ she sang out the last part, and musical notes suddenly materialised out of thin air, shooting towards Fay who momentarily lost his ever present smile.

He looked like he was hit as the notes burst into a cloud of pink smoke.

"Fay!" Syaoran shouted.

Then the smoke began to dissipate. Fay was still standing, but the only hint of the technique he had used was the glowing green energy that was drawn back inside him.

"Well, you did surprise me." Fay admitted, smile back on his face, "I've never seen a move like that. It seems just the sort of attack Mokona would enjoy."

And surely enough, when Harry looked up he could see Mokona clapping its hands.

"What fun!" Mokona shouted, "Mokona like!"  
Harry snorted at the complete disregard for the danger.

"Be careful, Fay!" Masayoshi called down worriedly, "Primera has a really high ranking kudon. You could get hurt!"  
Primera however was completely ignoring them and looking rather frustrated,

"You dodged?" She stomped her foot, "No fair." Her eyes narrowed, "Alright, _Let's see you survive…my next big hits!"_ She frowned when Fay managed to get out of the way of all of her notes, _"Don't fly away! Can't dodge this groove…"_

None of her attacks hit, and Harry was actually quite impressed. He wasn't entirely sure he would have been able to doge all of that…

Fay landed on the roof below her and Primera looked put out.

"I don't get it, why aren't they hitting you?" she asked frustrated.

Fay just shrugged,

"That's easy, if they hit me I might get hurt."  
Harry slapped his forehead with his hand, disbelievingly. It was hard to think that someone like Fay could actually exist…or maybe he didn't. It was still difficult to say, what with having been pulled into an anime world.

"He acts so spineless all the time." Kurogone said sounding exasperated, but not nearly as much as Harry felt, "But he's used to fighting."  
"Yeah." Syaoran said.

Kurogone eyed him,

"You don't seem surprised."

"We sparred a bit in the park. Fay's been teaching Harry a bit about fighting and he wanted me to help him demonstrate."

Harry nodded absently, but Kurogone noticed a hint of determination in his eyes,

"I need to learn all I can before I go home…and I can't go home until Ana says I can. And that's not going to happen until I learn my lesson." Harry added thoughtfully, "Whatever that is."

"Do you want to go home?" Kurogone asked Harry curiously.

Harry felt uncertainty swell up inside him. Did he want to go home?

"Not until I'm able to survive there, I think." Harry looked down at the ground, his fists clenched, "There are a lot of people counting on me. I can't just abandon them."

Kurogone raised an eyebrow,

"And why not? They don't tell you anything you need to know from what I can tell. They won't train you so that you can help. Seems to me you've had to figure things out all on your own."  
Harry paused,  
"That's true." He admitted, "But…I still want to hope, you know?" his eyes widened with realization, remembering how Syaoran had looked down at Sakura, "I still…want to hope that someone really does need me, and that the one who needs me will help me too. And that it will all be worth it in the end…"  
Kurogone raised an eyebrow at this, but gave a slight nod of…respect? Harry wondered.

"You're pretty good fly boy." Primera said, drawing their attention back to the fight, "I'll need some more umph!" she thrust her megaphone into the air and it began to glow, "My kudon, super sound check, two! Mike stand." And it had transformed into a mike stand with purple butterfly wings decorating it.

Fay looked surprised by the sudden transformation. Then Primera started to sing again,

"_Introducing the fly boy remix with super savvy beat. Too fantastic to resist."_ A large treble clef appeared in front of her, then she drew back her mike stand like a bat and swung, hitting the trouble clef and sending it at Fay, far faster than any of the notes. "_Yeah, yeah yeaaaah."_

"BOOM!" the clef exploded.

"Oh yeah, bringing it home." Primera said smugly.

Harry let out a gasp, then covered his mouth.

"Oh no!" Syaoran said.

There were bits of pink stone that had fallen down from the explosion, they disappeared into thin air.

"Where is he?" Harry asked looking around.

"Over here, guys."

They turned around to see Fay standing with one foot on a tree branch and dusting himself off.

"But never mind me." Fay said, "How's Mokona reacting to all this?"

Harry looked confused, then turned his head to Mokona who was still swinging back and forth singing.

"Still singing that stupid song." Kurogone grumbled, "Why?"

"Well, think about it." Fay said lifting his finger up in a factual manner, "The feather Mokona's been sensing goes in and out of existence."

"A kudon." Syaoran realized.

"My thoughts exactly." Fay nodded in agreement, "And it would have to be strong too. Sakura's feathers are her essence, her memories…well, it's just a theory."

"You should have said so earlier!" Kurogone growled agitatedly.

Fay just shrugged helplessly and Harry snickered.

"What are you laughing at, brat?" Kurogone scoffed.

"You guys are just funny, is all." Harry shrugged.

"What are you guys' chit chatting about?" Primera asked, a smile on her face, "Ready to give up?"

Fay put his hands around his mouth like a megaphone,

"If I do concede, Mistress, then what exactly happens next?" Fay asked.

That was a rather good point, Harry thought. Just what was her plan anyways?

"Well isn't that obvious?" Primera asked, "I go on to fight Syaoran."

Syaoran looked a tad upset by this, Fay however was undeterred.

"I'm afraid that's a bit of a problem." The blond man said, "You see, Syaoran's in the middle of an important hunt right now. And I can't let you get in his way."  
Harry was a bit fascinated by Fay's conviction. It was strange, from what he had been able to discern Fay and Syaoran had only just met, they were as new to this as he was. Yet they put a lot of faith in each other…not without reason. Neither of them had given them any reason not to trust the other, quite the opposite really. Fay and Kurogone had helped Harry without asking for anything in return. They would have been fine had Harry decided not to fight…but he had and he'd stuck to that decision.

"Well then, I can't let you live." Primera said, snapping Harry from his thoughts, "_Super fly boy, ultimate remix! Oh yeah…yeaeaaeeeaah!"_

A stream of energy burst out of the mike and Harry and Syaoran both let out a gasp. But Fay handsprang onto the energy stream and began running across it, and right up to Primera, until he had her pinned against a wall.

He brushed her hair aside,

"I'd hate to hurt such a cute girl. Can't we just stop this fighting?"  
Harry looked up at him incredulously,

"Fay, I know you're trying to be all seductive and stuff, but you're coming off as creepy!" he called up to him.

"I'm not being creepy!" Fay shouted down in denial.

"I'm…" Primera said, "So embarrassed!" Unfortunately, those words came out through the mike and formed into notes that exploded around the tower, cutting Mokona and Masayoshi's ropes and flinging them over the side of the castle.

"They'll be killed!" Syaoran gasped.

Harry reached for his wand, only to stop when a blue stingray shot into the sky and caught the two of them and Masayoshi's kudon who had tried to save its master.

"Primera, stop it."

It was Shogo, he stood on top of a wall, his gang behind him.

"Enough is enough."

Primera gasped, a smile back on her face,

"Shogo, you're back!"

Shogo's kudon dropped Masayoshi, Mokona and Masayoshi's kudon off on the roof where Primera was as well.

"You're amazing!" Masayoshi said with awe, "Thanks Shogo."

"What do you think you're doing here, Primera?" Shogo asked, ignoring Masayoshi, "Don't you have a concert to perform?"

"I'm the one who should be asking questions." Primera said obviously upset, "I haven't seen you all day. And as for the concert, please, I still have plenty of time. It's two minutes away over there in Honshin dome."  
Harry blinked a few times, wondering how she planned on getting over there in two minutes.

"Look I saw you yesterday." Primera said now looking accusing, "What did you think you were doing with your arm around that other girl?"

Shogo's eyes twitched, annoyed. Harry had to resist the urge to face palm again. This whole thing was just a lover's spat?

"Would you rather spend time with her than with me?" she asked helplessly.

"What are they fighting about?" Kurogone asked confused.

"This whole thing was just a lovers spat…" Harry trailed off, "This place is crazy."

Syaoran shot Harry a strange look,

"A lovers spat?" he repeated.

"That was Sakura!" Harry shouted up at Primera, "And she's with Syaoran, you have literally nothing to worry about!"  
Syaoran blushed beat red,

"Harry, we aren't together!"  
Harry shot him a look,

"Fine, they aren't together yet, but they probably will be soon. Syaoran's clueless though!"

Primera looked down at them all surprised,

"Is that really true?" she asked Shogo.

"It's true." Shogo agreed, "She's Syaoran's girl."  
"We aren't together." Syaoran denied once again.

"Keep telling yourself that, Syaoran." Fay chuckled as he landed next to them.

Primera started crying,

"I-I've been so lonely though…that's why…I thought if I could get that Syaoran guy…" she pointed at Masayoshi, "You wouldn't have to spend so much time with your gang trying to beat him up…"

"You do know that's not Syaoran, right?" Shogo said bluntly.

"Yeah…" she collapsed to her knees.

"Syaoran!" Mokona said leaping up and down, "Syaoran!"

"Mokona, your eyes!" Syaoran realized, "There's a feather nearby?"

"It's here." Mokona confirmed, "The feather's very close now."

"Do you know who has it?" Syaoran pressed.

"Nuh uh." Mokona shook it's self, "But a moment ago I felt it really strongly. It's close close close."

"Could it be Shogo?" Harry guessed, then turned to Fay, "You said that it would be in a really powerful kudon, right?"

"But why would it be strong one minute and weak the next?" Kurogone asked dully.

"Sorota said it protects the person it's attached to." Fay explained, "If it were used to protect someone…"  
"When Masayoshi and Mokona were falling." Harry realized, "Shogo used his kudan to protect them."

"Well, that's the idea." Fay agreed.

"Let me guess," Harry sighted, "In order to see if someone has the feather, we're going to have to fight them."

"Most likely." Fay said.

Primera was still sobbing, but she stood up,

"Shogo!" She reached out towards him, "I missed you!"  
"Aw geese…" Shogo sighed, then reached a hand out towards her, "Yeah, babe, I missed you too."

"If they keep on like that, I think I'm gonna throw up." Kurogone growled.

But Syaoran was looking off distantly, as though seeing something none of them were. Harry noticed a touch of longing in his eyes and thought he might have been thinking about Sakura. Harry wasn't entirely sure about Shogo and Primera's relationship, but Sakura and Syaoran had something…something he couldn't quite explain. But he found himself longing for it too.


	3. Chapter 3

"A feather?" Shogo asked looking almost disbelieving.

"That's right." Syaoran nodded, "We think your kudon might have absorbed one of these memory fragments we've been after."

Shogo raised an eyebrow,

"Interesting…and how would I know if it had? Something tells me I'm about to get that little rematch I've been hoping for." He realized.

Harry frowned at the way Shogo was taking advantage of the situation. He didn't like the fact that he was basically bargaining with Sakura's life. Though Harry wasn't sure he actually realized this.

"Back on the bridge," Shogo said, "When I said you were a worthy opponent…I was serious, kid."

They seemed to stair each other down a while. The silence was tense.

"It's clear that you're strong." Shogo said, "And I'm not just talking physical strong." He pointed to his chest with his thumb, "I'm talking here."

Harry couldn't argue with that. Ever since having met Syaoran it was like nothing could shake him. Like there was a fire burning behind his eyes. He was so focused, and yes, he was quiet, but that only seemed to add to that focus. Like he only spoke when he needed to, and he didn't need to speak any more than that.

Yes, Harry thought, he was strong. He bit his lower lip, and he wanted to find strength like that too. The way Syaroan did. When he needed strength, he found it.

"You've got a rare trait." Shogo said, "And that's the real reason I wanted to fight you, Syaoran."

Harry understood now, more than he had before. Everything seemed to become clearer somehow. Shogo had seen it far before Harry had. Syaoran had no hesitation, he walked forward. Always walking without a hint of doubt. He was certain of himself. Harry clenched his fist, in contrast he always felt so uncertain, never having all the facts, acting on fragments of information…

Maybe that was part of the reason why he had come to this Anime to begin with, because Syaoran was like the person he wanted to be. He was the hero in every sense. And Harry was…just Harry. Funny, really. Harry had always wanted to be 'just Harry' but it seemed that 'just Harry' wasn't going to do anymore.

He needed to get stronger too, so that he could live. Not unburdened. No. Syaoran, Fay, Kurogone, they all had their burdens. They were far from perfect. But they still lived, even when they'd had their homes taken from them, even when Syaoran was fighting every moment for Sakura's life.

Shogo revealed his kudon, and Syaoran began to glow.

"I understand." Syaoran said, and Harry watched wide eyed as the fire wolf creature appeared, "I accept your challenge. Let's fight."

They stared each other down a while, Syaoran glowed with his fire kudon's power.

"Keep your distance you guys, this one's mine." Shogo smirked.

There were a few cheers and laughs coming from the rest of the gang.

"I hope you're ready." Shogo said, and Syaoran seemed to glow brighter, he drew his hand forwards.

"Now!" Shogo shouted, and his kudon blasted an orb of energy, Syaoran's did the same and the energy collided. Fire and water, creating a backlash of wind. Bits of energy rained down on them on both sides.

"Behind you!" Masayoshi shouted.

Syaoran turned then did a back flip, kicking the wall of cement into pieces. Harry watched the display with awe. It was then he remembered that Syaoran wasn't even magical.

Yet he seems magical, Harry thought.

_All humans are magical…_At least that's what Ana had said, but Harry hadn't really understood until then.

"From what I gathered," Fay said, cutting into Harry's thoughts, "He hasn't had much of a warrior's life. Where'd he learn moved like that?"

"Maybe he's a fast learner." Kurogone argued, "Picked up the basics from you."

"I doubt that." Harry said softly, causing Kurogone to look at him curiously.

"What do you mean, kid?"

Harry shrugged,

"Just a feeling…besides, I really don't think a backflip is something you can just 'pick up' in a few days."

Kurogone grunted, and Harry could tell he agreed.

Syaoran held out his arm just like those other gang members had done before…a blast of red energy shot out at Shogo. Shogo's kudon shot out a blue orb and they collided, only Syaoran's energy won out, striking the ground by Shogo, why was encased in his kudon's embrace, letting out a grunt.

"Shogo…" Primera said worriedly from her perch.

Shogo was then dropped off on safer ground.

"Well done." He said looking at Syaoran who's eyes were still clear and focused, fist still out, "I've been fighting since I could lase my own boots. I've never been thrown like that before." He said looking Syaoran over with further admiration, and Harry knew he was looking at him the same way too.

"What makes you so strong?" Shogo asked curiously, "Tell me."

Syaoran continued to gaze a moment longer, then said,

"There's something important I promised I'd do."

And he was going to do it, Harry thought. He had no doubt about that.

"Is that so?" Shogo asked with a smirk, and Harry knew things were about to get interesting, he turned to his gang, "Move back, to higher ground."

"Yeah boss!" they all jumped out of the way, running up and away from the fight, but still within distance to see what would happen.

"Ready?" Shogo asked, then a wave of water appeared in mid air above him, he let out a cry and the water came crashing down. Syaoran raised his arms defensively, but that didn't stop the water from washing over him.

"Shogo, you big bone head, you're gonna get us all killed! And how can I put on an awesome concert when I'm dead!" Primera shouted, the water was shaking the castle.

That couldn't be good, Harry thought wide eyed. Masayoshi started to fall, only to be stopped by his kudon. Then a light burst through the water, and Harry's eyes went back to the fight. Syaoran came rising out of the water, still burning like fire.

Even Shogo looked surprised. Then Syaoran moved abruptly onto solid land, Fay and Kurogone jumped aside, Fay accidentally slamming into Harry.

"Whoops, sorry about that." Fay said.

"It's fine." Harry dismissed, still staring at Syaoran.

The glow dissipated into the glowing wolf creature. The water seemed to crash around once again and the temple actually began to collapse.

"Watch out!" Syaoran called up.

Primera let out a scream,

"Somebody help, the castle's falling apart!"

"Primera!" Shogo said, watching her wide eyed.

Masayoshi's kudon grabbed a hold of him though and tried to fly him away, only for Masayoshi to break free.

What was he doing? Harry wondered, then he made his way up to Primera.

"You're going to be okay." Masayoshi said, protectively putting himself between the castle and Pimera.

Suddenly, Masayoshi's kudon began to glow…then grow. Soon it was so enormous that it was lifting up part of the castle its self.

"No way…" Harry whispered with awe.

"Given water, sun and soil…a seed will grow." Fay said, smiling up at the enormous kudon.

"I sure hope that's your way of saying you're surprised." Kurogone said amazed.

But they were interrupted when Mokona jumped up, wide eyed.

"Syaoran!" it said, "The feather, it's here! I'm sure, sure, sure of it! Inside the magic giant boy."

Harry shook his head. He had not seen that one coming.

"So his kudon absorbed it." Fay said almost humorously, "Right under our noses."

"Okay…so now what?" Kurogone asked uncertainly.

The kudon began to pick up Masayoshi as Primera screamed at it to let him go. That's about when it all went to hell. The kudon's eyes began to glow red. A ball of white light appeared at it's mouth, then it shot out at the city, blasting a bunch of buildings.

"Bloody hell!" Harry gasped.

The backlash tossed Primera right off the building, and into Shogo's arms as he rode on his Kudon.

Syaoran was now looking at Masayoshi's kudon, clear and focused eyes.

He wasn't going after it, was he? Harry wondered a bit amazed.

"I don't get it," Kurogone said, "I thought only a strong kudon could hold the feather."

"It seems Masayoshi's kudon was always this powerful. And yet, from what we've learned, kudon are linked to the hearts of whom they serve." Fay said, "It's own strength must have been kept at bay by the boy's own belief that he was a weakling."

"Wow…" Harry said, still amazed at the sudden turn of events, somehow he'd always thought that Masayoshi was strong. The fact that he had decided to help them, complete strangers to save a random girl's life spoke of a character strength that wasn't found in many.

The kudon let out several blasts.

"His own kudon is ignoring him." Kurogone said, suddenly alert.

"The power of that feather seems to be taking its toll." Fay deduced.

Syaoran stepped forwards looking right at the kudon.

"What's the plan kid?" Kurogone asked.

"I'm going to get Sakura's feather back." Syaoran said, and Harry could hear that no matter what, that plan was not going to change.

"Who knows how much damage that thing might cause. Be smart or you'll get killed." Kurogone informed.

"No." Syaoran said, and Harry could detect something in his voice that he couldn't quite identify, "I won't die today." He turned to them, "I have a purpose and I am a long way from finishing it. I can't die yet."

Harry watched wide eyed, he knew that it didn't work like that. People died all the time in stupid ways…but the way he had said that…it was like he wasn't going to die, because he had something to live for. And only once his task was complete would he allow death to take him, but only then.

Harry shivered, not entirely sure if he wanted to analyse those words any further.

"I'll see you soon." Syaoran promised, then called forth his kudon.

Harry watched in amazement as Syaoran stood on top of it's back and flew off into the sky. Harry didn't think that he could do that…But it seemed to further attest to his ability to find strength.

"Dumb kid." Kurogone said, snapping Harry's attention back, "Didn't even ask for help."

Fay hummed,

"Blazing forward on his given path…with no hesitation. I'm beginning to understand why it was the kudon of fire that chose him as an ally."

Syaoran was in a crouch on top of his kudon, then when he got closer to Masayoshi's kudon, he stood up tall.

What was he going to do? Harry wondered, watching entranced by the whole thing.

Even from as far away as they were now, Harry saw Syaoran tense, then he jumped! He flew down from the sky, headfirst at the kudon, then punched it in the chest, fist blazing with blue fire.

He was actually doing it! His fist sank into the kudon and his hand reached for the feather. Then Masayoshi grabbed at his own chest looking to be in pain. Syaoran hesitated a moment. The first time Harry had ever seen him hesitate. Then he pressed on once again, grabbing the feather.

Masayoshi's kudon glowed a bright white that seemed to envelop everything. Then it started to rain.

Harry's attention turned to Shogo.

"I can't do much, but this rain should stop the fire from spreading."

Primera smiled, then cuddled up closer to him,

"You're the best." She told him.

But Harry was in awe by the display. He had never met anyone like Fay or Kurogone before. And he certainly hadn't met anyone as amazing as Syaoran before either. The whole thing was just incredible. Harry then vowed, then and there that whenever he needed strength, he would find it. Just like Syaoran did. And he knew that in the future he would need all the strength he could get.

It was dark out and the four of them had returned to Sorata and Arashi's place. Syaoran was kneeling by Sakura's futon. He placed the feather over her chest and it quickly sank into her, leaving rippled of magic in it's wake. Syaoran grasped her hand looking at her face worriedly.

Then, to Harry's surprise, she actually opened her eyes.

"Sakura!" Syaoran said suddenly, "You're back."  
The girl looked at him, and it was a dazed sort of look,

"I'm sorry." She said, "Who are you?"

Syaoran drew in a sharp breath. Harry winced, then grimaced. He couldn't imagine how much that had to have hurt…

Syaoran let go of her hand.

Harry, Fay and Kurogone watched from behind the door in the hall.

"She doesn't remember." Harry breathed.

"Right, I suppose you didn't know." Fay said, looking at Harry sadly, "But Syaoran made a deal with the dimensional witch. And remember, in order to gain something, with her, something of equal value needs to be lost."  
Harry's eyes widened,

"What did Syaoran give up?"

"His bond, Harry." Fay told him, "No matter how many memories Syaoran recovers for her, Sakura will never remember what Syaoran meant to her."

Harry grimaced,

"Blazing forwards on his chosen path…huh?"

Fay nodded sadly,

"Yes…that would be accurate."

And now Harry understood. He understood just how deep love was now. He'd never seen anything like that before, but he knew now, more than ever why he had wanted it.

Love was a painful thing, but the hope that came with it was something that everyone needed to keep living. The hope, the happiness…all of that.

"I'm Syaoran." Syaoran introduced himself.

He hid his pain well.

"And your name's Princess Sakura. I know you're confused, so I'll try to explain." Syaoran said, "You're from the country, Clow which exists in another world."

"How's that…possible?" Sakura asked.

"Something happened and your memory was scattered across different dimensions. We're traveling to them, one by one to get your memory back." Syaoran explained.

"Just us?" Sakura whispered, "We're alone?"

"Actually, four others joined up with us along the way." Syaoran continued.

"And you've been here…from the start." Sakura stated.

"I have." Syaoran said with a small smile.

"Even though we're strangers?" Sakura asked.

"That's right." Syaoran agreed, but Harry sucked in a sharp breath.

Fay was the first to approach, walking into the room with Mokona in his arms,

"Hello, Princess. My name is Fay. Fay D. Flourite if you want to be formal. This brave young man is Syaoran."  
Harry and Kurogone entered the room. Harry looked a bit timid, but approached anyways.

"Hi." He greeted, "My name's Harry." He introduced, "Er, I guess if we're being formal, it's Harry Potter."

Fay chuckled slightly,

"That dark cloud over there is Kurgie."

"It's Kurogane." Kurogane growled.

"Rounding out our group is this cure ball of fuzz." Fay said, introducing her to Mokona.

"Mokona Modiki." Mokona introduced, "You sleep too much, silly. Now that you're awake we can be friends."  
Sakura smiled, but Harry could tell that she was still dazed.

"So," Harry said, "I've only been with the group a while, but it's possible I'll be leaving at any second."

"Oh?" Fay asked looking at Harry, "Did you learn that thing you were trying to learn?"

Harry smiled,

"I think so. But Ana's not here so maybe there's more to it."  
Fay hummed,

"In that case…give me a moment." Fay got up from the bed side and moved out of the room.

He returned moments later with a small book in his arms. It looked like it had been shrunk.

"This is a book from my country on magic." Fay said, "I've always had it on me, ever since I was a kid. I don't think I need it anymore though. I think it will be of much better use in your hands."  
Harry looked down at the book hesitantly,

"Are you sure, Fay?"

Fay nodded,

"Definitely. I don't need it anymore. I swore off magic. But you, Harry…you still have a long way to go it seems."

Harry grinned,

"Thank you, Fay. I promise I'll take good care of it."

Fay laughed,

"I bet you will…"  
"Aw, now isn't that interesting…"  
Suddenly, Fay and Kurogone were all on guard. Syaoran had left the room it seemed.

"Ana?" Harry asked, looking at the girl with multi-colored hair, still dressed in the same sailor outfit he'd met her in.

"That's my name." she said proudly, "And it seems you really have learned your lesson here." She turned to Fay, "I've gotta say, you were a bit of a surprise, taking Harry on like that. But that's really awesome! I mean, how many people can say they were taught by_ the_ Fay D. Flourite!" the girl gushed.

Kurogone raised an eyebrow,

"Hey Fay, are you famous or something?"

Fay tilted his head to the side,

"Not that I'm aware…"

Ana giggled,

"Actually, all four of you are pretty famous…oh, but you don't know…eh, secret." She said putting a finger to her lips.

Harry rolled his eyes,

"If it helps at all, I hadn't heard about you until I met you." He added in helpfully.

Fay shot Ana a strange look, as though trying to solve a puzzle.

"Am I to assume this is farewell?" he asked Harry.

"Maybe not forever." Ana added in helpfully, "If Harry wants to go back, or if I think he has more to learn from you, you might see him again. Until then, thank you very much for taking care of him." She gave a bow and Harry could only assume it was some sort of Japanese custom.

"It was no trouble. Harry is a brilliant student." Fay's smile seemed to widen as he looked at Harry, "I hope we'll meet again, Harry. It was a pleasure teaching you. And keep up with your training. You better be stronger the next time we meet."

"You bet." Harry nodded determinedly, "If Ana will allow it, I'll visit again."

"Come on, Harry." Ana said twirling around on the spot, "You still have more places you need to be, and so many people you need to meet."

Harry rushed after her, "Coming." He said.

As he passed Kurogone, he paused a moment. The dark swordsman gave him a small nod,

"See you around, kid."

Harry nodded, then continued on after Ana. This time, a strange magical portal appeared in a mirror at the end of the hall. Ana passed through it, and Harry knew she wanted him to follow.

Taking a deep breath, he walked through the mirror then opened his eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Now, onto a new world! I wanted to add in a Hayao Miyazaki moving in there, and I kind of just pulled this one out of a hat.**

**It's one of the less popular ones but…the hat never lies.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Tsubasa Chronicles or The Cat Returns.**

**On With the Story!**

Harry stood in the middle of a small round circle of cobblestones. A giant statue was in the middle, a column with a crow made of stone on top. The place was surrounded by buildings, small houses that didn't look like they were meant for humans.

"Where…am I?" Harry wondered, taking a look around.

"Who are you?" he turned around suddenly to see a large white cat walking on it's hind legs like a person. And behind him was a girl wearing some sort of blue school uniform. Or at least Harry assumed it was for school. She had a bag with her, slung carelessly over her shoulder, her hand gripping the handle.

But more importantly, had the cat just spoken? Should he really be surprised? Harry sighed, there was no indication that Ana was anywhere nearby.

"My name is Harry Potter." He introduced himself to the cat, then the girl, "And as to why I'm here…" he trailed off, "It's…kind of a long story. All I know is that someone wanted me to be here."

"So…" the girl said looking at Harry, "You can talk to cats too? And I'm not crazy?"

Harry shot her a blank look,

"Uh…are most people in this world not supposed to understand cats?"

"This world?" the big white cat repeated, "You aren't an alien or something, are you?"

Harry thought about this a while,

"Does interdimensional traveler count as an alien?" Harry wondered out loud, both the cat and the girl looked at Harry a little odd. Then the cat turned to the girl,

"Chicky, I don't think you should be asking this guy about sanity."

"Oy," Harry frowned, "I'm not crazy…Here, let me show you." He took out his wand, "Wingardium Leviosa."

The cat was hit by the spell and let out a yelp as he soon found himself flying up into the air, floating around.

"What the heck?" the cat gasped out, "What are you?"

"I'm a wizard." Harry huffed, then put him down, "Well, I'm still in training." He clutched the book Fay had given him close to his chest, relieved that it was still there.

"A wizard?" the girl asked with awe, "Those exist too?"

Harry shrugged,

"Well, I'm traveling dimensions, so I don't know if this world has any other wizards out there." Harry paused, "Though with talking cats about I suppose that wouldn't be such a far fetched notion. One of my teachers had the ability to turn into a cat, you know?"

The big white cat looked surprised at this. Then Harry put him down, flicked his wand and put it back into his back pocket.

"It's an ability that wizards normally train to obtain, the animagus transformation. But they can only change into one animal and…I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"A little, yeah." The girl said a hint of teasing in her voice, "I'm Haru, by the way. And this guy here is Muta."

The cat made no move to say anything. Harry figured it was a bit peeved at being levitated. He wondered if he ought to apologize…

Just then the sun in the new world Harry had entered began to set and the windows began to glow one by one, lighting up the square, or circle.

"Shut it off, Baron!" Muta said, shielding his eyes, "No one's impressed by your little light show."

The light dimmed and the lamps in the circle lit up the darkness. The house with green trim was still alight with light. Then the double doors opened up revealing an orange cat in a white suit and black shoes and a top hat.

Harry watched as the very gentlemanly cat came walking out, cane out in front of him all proper like. Haru was staring too, nearly tripping over herself. Harry couldn't help but wonder what anime he was in now where there were talking cats…

"Good evening." This new cat spoke, "My name is Baron Humbert von Gikkingen." He introduced.

The cat was a baron? Harry thought to himself, deciding that now he had seen everything…then shook that thought from his head. That seemed too much like a trap, to think he'd seen everything.

"You have now entered the world of objects with souls." The Baron said.

Harry paused a moment, wondering if that was anything like what Ana had claimed, about humans putting magic into what they created.

"When someone puts all their heart into something, with all of their might, that thing will gain a soul. Like me, or…like Toto over there." He nodded to the column in the center of the circle. Looking up, Harry watched as the crow statue came alive and spread its wings, as though stretching.

"I see you have visitors, Baron. How unusual."

"Quite." The Baron agreed.

And Harry wondered why Haru was here in the first place. Though he was sure he was about to find out.

"Oh, right." Haru said, "I'm Haru. I was so shocked, I forgot to introduce myself."

Realizing that he should probably introduce himself as well, Harry said,

"And I'm Harry. Harry Potter. It's nice to meet you."

The Baron looked the both of them over and Harry almost felt as though those glass, yellow eyes were staring into his soul.

"I saw what you did a moment ago. Are you really a wizard?" he asked curiously.

Harry nodded,

"Yes, I am. I've been sent across different dimensions by Ana…er, and I'm only allowed to leave once I've learned a lesson." Harry bit his lip, but then remembered Syaoran and how he was always moving forward, "I don't know what lesson I'm going to learn this time, but, I know that I landed in a place where I was supposed to help out before."

Baron raised an eyebrow (Did cat's have eyebrows?),

"How fascinating. I suppose this time you'll be helping out this girl?"

Harry shrugged,

"I don't know." He admitted, "Do remember that I'm in a world where I've never actually been before. I don't know how it works, and I'm not so full of myself to say I won't need any help. I had someone help me with my magic in the last world." Harry added, "A wizard named Fay. He gave me this book." He showed he Baron, feeling that he could be trusted.

The Baron nodded,

"And what about you, Miss Haru? Why are you here?"

Haru, who had been staring at Harry all this time, broke away her gaze and looked back at the Baron,

"Oh, right! I'm in deep trouble." She said, "I saved this cat see, and I found out he was a prince. Now, if I don't do something I'm going to be forced to marry him."

Harry blinked in surprise,

"Forced to marry a cat?" Harry repeated, "How is that going to work?"

"I really don't want to know." Haru said looking green, and Harry didn't blame her.

"Well then, how about we go inside and have some tea while you explain what's going on?" Baron suggested.

The doors of his house opened up and he walked back inside. Harry vaguely wondered if him and Haru would be able to fit in there together.

"You go first." Haru told Harry, her face a bit flushed.

She was wearing a skirt, Harry noted, she probably didn't want to flash her underwear. Though her skirt was long, and she probably would be okay…He just nodded, and entered through the doors. It was a tight fit, but somehow he managed to make it through.

He moved as far away from the door as he could, trying to make room for Haru. She was half way through the door, school case in front of her.

"This is going to be tight." She said uncertainly.

One door closed slightly, and she had to back out a moment to give herself more room. Once she was inside she looked about with awe.

"You have great taste, Baron." She said looking up at the chandelier crystals, then sitting down next to Harry.

It seemed there was more room in the house than Harry had originally thought. The Baron made some tea, then gave them each a cup.

"How cute." Haru said, observing the small cup.

"That's my own special blend of tea." The Baron said, interrupting Harry's thoughts, "It's a little different every time, so, I can't guarantee the flavour."

Haru took a sip.

"It's delicious." She exclaimed.

Curiously, Harry took a sip as well. It was very tasty.

"Very tasty." Harry added, and he never had anything quite so nice before.

"Then you're lucky." The Baron said modestly.

Harry took another sip of tea, wondering what might be in it, when the Baron spoke again.

Then Muta came in, looking rather grouchy.

"Oh, do you want tea too?" Baron asked, though from the amusement in his tone he seemed to already know that Muta didn't.

"No, Baron, I do not want tea." Muta said dryly, then sat down on the couch.

"Very well then." Baron's attention turned back to Haru, "Now then, what seems to be the problem?"

Haru let out a sigh,

"Well, it all started a few days ago. You see, there was this cat that was about to get hit by a truck, so I saved it. But after words, the cat started to thank me. The next night there were all these cats that came parading down my street. And this one cat introduced himself as the Cat King. Apparently I saved his son and now he wants me to marry the prince!"

Muta burst into laughter,

"So why don't you do it, kid, you'll be set for life!"

Harry shook his head,

"Forgive me for cutting in, but in my opinion, there is nothing fortunate about having your fate decided for you."

The cat, Baron looked up at Harry with a nod,

"Wise words. You speak from experience?"

Harry half nodded, half-grimaced,

"That's part of the reason I'm traveling different dimensions. I want to find a way to survive."

The Baron hummed,

"Survive or live?" he asked.

Harry realized what the Baron was asking,

"Both, I hope." He paused, thinking on his answer a bit, and Baron waited patiently, "If I had to choose between the two though…I think I'd want to live."

Baron smiled,

"Good. Then I'll help you in any way I can." He declared.

Harry smiled,

"That's what I was hoping. Thank you."

Haru looked between the two in confusion,

"But…isn't living and surviving the same thing?"

Baron shook his head,

"I don't believe so, and it seems Harry here, doesn't think so either. Some might believe them to be though, I suppose."

"Surviving is not dying." Harry explained a little more helpful, "But living isn't just 'not dying' it's…making every moment count."

"Oh." Haru said looking thoughtful, "I see…then I guess living really is better than survival."

The Baron hummed slightly,

"I've always pondered a visit to the Cat Kingdom. It seems like now is the time. Of course, you know more about it than I do, Muta." He looked at his white furred colleague expectantly.

"It's a dangerous place." Muta said, eyes narrowing and suddenly looking very serious, "Especially if you don't believe in yourself."

"Believe in yourself?" Harry asked curiously.

"Indeed." The Baron nodded, "Now, where shall Haru stay while we're gone?"

"Hold on a minute!" Muta said, "What do you mean 'we?'"

"I was assuming you would come." Baron elaborated.

"Sounds like too much trouble, thanks for the offer though." Muta waved his paw in the air lazily.

"I see." Baron said, "Then you can stay here and watch Haru and Harry."  
"What!?" Muta exclaimed, "I'm no one's babysitter. Nuh uh, no way."

"It's fine." Everyone turned towards Haru who looked rather subdued.

"Haru, are you alright?" Harry asked her curiously.

"Yeah, I mean…" she trailed off looking at Muta and Baron. I didn't want to cause any problems. I'll just…find a way to get out of this myself."

"I see." The Baron said, "I'm sorry the Cat Bureaux couldn't be of any help."

Muta seemed to let out a groan,

"Fine!" he finally said, "I'll watch the little babies!"

Harry laughed a bit, amused.

"You're just a big softy, aren't you?" Harry said to Muto who humped in indignation.

"Watch it, magic boy." The fat cat hissed.

"Magic boy?" Harry deadpanned.

Toto, who came in through the upper window began to laugh,

"Wow, Muta, you almost did better than 'Chicken legs.'" He said amusedly.

"Shut it, bird brain!" Muta shot back, "That's it, I'm leaving!" he said getting up about to storm off.

"That's too bad, and here I was just about to take that angel food cake out of the cupboard." Baron sighed.

Muta came to a halt,

"Where in the cupboard?" he walked back over to the cupboards, and began searching, "The middle shelf, just over there." The Baron said and Muto took out an angel's food cake.

"So how did you come to hear about this place, Haru?" the Baron asked, as though he was just remembering.

"Oh," Haru said, "I heard a voice."

"A voice?" the Baron asked with intrigue.

"I was taking out the trash after school and I was outside when I heard it." Haru explained, "It said to go to the Cat Bureaux. That there was a big white cat at the crossroads that would take me there."

"Interesting…" Baron murmured.

"Was there anyone else nearby?" Harry asked Haru, "Anyone else that could have heard but didn't?"

Haru shook her head,

"No…I don't think I'm crazy." She added in hastily.

"I wasn't suggesting that." Harry added, "It's just…I have a unique magical gift called 'parseltongue.' When I was in second grade I was hearing voices in the walls no one else could hear. Turned out to be a snake." _A really big snake_ Harry added mentally, "I just thought that maybe this could be another cat."

"You mean snakes can talk too?" Haru asked looking a little freaked out.

Harry noted her anxiety,

"Did you only recently start talking to cats? I'm guessing that's not a common thing in this world." He commented.

"It's not." Muta said, and it seemed he was making whipped cream.

"You're going all out." Baron commented.

"Oh," Toto said, "This calls for some of my special mulberries." He turned around and took off into flight.

"Now then." The Baron said, "There is only one thing I want both of you to do. Listen carefully."

Haru leaned in slightly as though afraid she wouldn't hear him.

"Always believe in yourself. Do this and not matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear."

Nothing to fear? Harry wondered. He felt a bit uncertain about that. He had a lot to fear. People dying because of him, for one. Fear its self…the dementors. Harry gave a small shudder.

Baron ignored him though in favour of Muta who looked like he was about to knock over a bunch of dishes.

A knock came at the door.

"Is that Toto?" Haru asked, then opened the door to see a cat with tan fur and a brown patch over it's ear.

"We found you, Miss Haru."

"Uh oh." Harry said out loud, then a bunch of cats swarmed around them, "Haru, grab my hand." He said quickly.

She grabbed it just in time and Harry held on tight so as not to get separated, even when the cats swept them off their feat and they landed on top of them on top of them.

"Skip the tea." Harry heard Baron say before they were thrust out the door.

Haru let out a scream, and Harry winced slightly.

"Don't let go, Haru." Harry reminded her, "I'm right here. Don't worry." Harry told her, trying hard not to freak out himself.

Being kidnaped by super intelligent cats was a new one for him.

"We looked all over for you, Haru." The cat with the brown patch said, he was ridding on top with them and Harry found him to be rather annoying.

"Let me off." Haru said.

"Aw, you're just having some pre-wedding jitters is all."

"No I'm not!" Haru yelled, and Harry winced.

"Are you sure the prince wants to marry Haru?" Harry asked the cat, trying to come up with some sort of plan.

"Of course he does." The cat told Harry with a grin, "She saved his life. Now who are you?"

Harry sighed,

"Harry Potter." He introduced, "And I'd say it's nice to meet you, but considering the circumstances…it's really not."

"What circumstances?" the cat asked confused, "We're just escorting Haru to the Cat Kingdom."

Oh great, Harry thought, he doesn't think he's doing anything wrong.

"I don't want to get married." Haru said, "I'm only sixteen! And I definitely don't want to…" Before she could complete her sentence, the cats leaped at a wall.

A big magical hole appeared and they went through. Harry momentarily closed his eyes, and Haru nearly let go, but Harry grabbed her arm with his other hand.

They were suddenly running down a building. Haru was screaming. A magical hole appeared at the bottom on the pavement, and they dove through.

Then they were going through a forest.

"Don't let go, Haru." Harry repeated.

"R-right." Haru said, "Sorry." She said realizing she nearly had once again.

"It's okay." Harry said, "I know it's scary, but just focus on me."

Haru nodded mutely. Then they traveled through one last portal. The world around them went black.


	5. Chapter 5

**I'll just publish the full Cat Returns arc. I think that would be for the best.**

**I do not own Harry Potter.  
Nor do I own Tsubasa Chronicles, or anything by Hayao Miyazaki.**

"Hello?"

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He sat up abruptly and found that he was in a field of grass. There was a small white cat with a pink ribbon around her neck. And Harry assumed it was a girl due to her voice.

"Hello." Harry said slowly.

"Did you come here with Haru?" the cat asked curiously.

"I did." Harry agreed, "How do you know Haru?" Harry asked curiously.

The cat looked down sadly,

"She saved my life when I was just a kit." She said softly, "She fed me, when I was starving."

"Haru doesn't want to get married." Harry said slowly, "I'm here to help her get out of this…somehow." He shook himself slightly, "And it seems I've shrunk down to the size of a cat…that's not very helpful." He let out a sigh.

"You can still do it." The cat told him slowly, "You just need to believe you can."

"Believe I can?" Harry asked her.

"That's half the battle." The cat smiled softly, "The other half is actually doing it."

Harry nodded,

"You're right." He said standing up slowly, checking himself over to make sure he was alright. The book Fay had given him still in his arms. Harry checked his back pocket to make sure his wand was okay. It was fine, thankfully. He let out a small sigh, he really needed a wand holster…and a backpack.

"Are you going to be carrying that book around with you all the time?" the cat asked curiously.

Harry nodded,

"I'll need to find a bag or something for it later. I don't want to leave it anywhere though. It's very important to me."

The cat nodded, then to Harry's surprise, she took off the pink ribbon around her neck and handed it to him.

"Maybe you can turn it into a sling or something?" the cat asked.

Harry's eyes lit up,

"I think I can do one better." Harry said, taking his wand out of his back pocket, then right before the cat's eyes, he transfigured it into a bag.

The cat's eyes widened,

"How did you do that?" she asked surprised.

"I'm a wizard." Harry explained, "I'm not fully trained or anything. Still learning."

"A wizard…" the cat gasped, "That's incredible! You can definitely save Haru, I just know it!"

Harry smiled,

"You're right." Harry said, "I just have to tell myself that. Can you tell me where they've taken her?" Harry asked seriously.

"They've taken her to the palace." She said, "This way." She slinked on ahead, wobbling back and forth on her hind legs.

Harry followed after her. And as they came up over the hill, the fog cleared to be replaced by beautiful sunlight. A giant castle jutted up into the sky. It was golden, surrounded by a moat of water. There were three towers in what looked to be a maze. One of the towers, the tallest one, jutted up into the sky towards a large circle of light in the sky.

"How curious." Harry said gently, it nearly put Hogwarts to shame. Nearly, "Now how am I going to get inside?"

"I can sneak you in through the servant's entrance…Is there anyway you might be able to turn yourself into a cat?"

Harry thought about this,

"I don't know how to actually turn myself into a cat. Even with magic that's a high level transfiguration." Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"That's fine." The cat said quickly, "I was just thinking it would be far easier to sneak you in with the entertainment. But we could try something else. Is there anything else you might be able to use? Like a…a stealth spell or something?"

Harry lit up,

"I can disillusion myself." Harry said, "It's like invisibility, I learned how to do it last year because I thought it might be useful."

"That's perfect!" the cat exclaimed happily.

"I'm Harry, by the way." Harry introduced, "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself earlier, it seems."

The girl-cat smiled,

"My name's Yuki."

After casting a disillusionment charm on himself, Yuki led him across the bridge. They snuck around the side into a door off inside a small crevice, between two walls. It was hardly noticeable. And anyone just passing by probably wouldn't have noticed.

"From this point on, I'll only talk to you if we're alone. Try to stay quiet unless I talk to you. There are people all over the castle who might be watching.

"Alright." Harry said quietly.

Yuki opened the door and Harry walked inside quickly, then Yuki went inside. The place was crowded, a small locker room with maids rushing all around in every which way. Yuki grabbed a ribbon from her locker and tied it around her neck. Then put a maid's band on her head, her ears popping out, then put on an apron. Harry found the whole thing to be rather surreal, a cat in an apron…

Yuki led him down the hall. They climbed a flight of stairs. Down the hall, then back down a flight of stairs.

They went through a rather out of the way door that, seemed to have a door which swung both ways. A kitchen. Cats were hustling and bustling everywhere. This one rather large cat (Though not as large as Muta) was going around yelling at people and telling them what they ought to do. The head chef, Harry realized.

"The new princess doesn't like mice! We need to find something absolutely purrrfect or we're out of a job! You hear!?" he shouted.

This definitely seemed to motivate them.

Harry watched as the big, head chef came up with a plate of raw fish covered in some sort of sauce…Harry sighed, he had a feeling that cat's didn't really understand what humans liked food wise.

Yuki picked up a bottle of wine and some glasses and set them on a tray. She walked carefully out another door, and Harry snuck through behind her as the door swung.

The room was a lot quieter for a hall like this. It was full of people and they were all watching some entertainers, a juggler who tried to make them all laugh as the music played from a band in a cut off area.

Harry nearly gasped when he saw Haru…only she looked like she was part cat.

Of course, Harry though, a human can't marry a cat. Of course they'd want to change her into a cat. He shook his head; it was a royal line. Nobles tended to want heirs…Harry felt himself turn green. He really did not envy Haru.

The pour girl was crying her eyes out and everyone there seemed to be oblivious. Harry had a vague flashback to his childhood.

He let out a shaky sigh. Okay, so he knew where Haru was…now what?

Harry jumped when the king slammed his fist down on the table,

"Not entertaining enough!" he snapped his fingers, and the pour juggler was thrown out the window. Harry's eyes widened, not that was a little harsh. He knew that cats normally landed on their feet but what about from this height? He shuddered, wondering if the cat king was, well, sane.

The next performer was also tossed out the window, along with one of the guests who had the audacity to laugh when the princess didn't even smile. Haru just played with her raw fish dully.

"Whoever is next better not suck!" the king hissed.

Several performers backed away, but one cat stepped forwards. He wore tall boots, a cape, a feathered hat that dipped over his eyes and a silver and white mask.

"Your majesty," he began, "I believe that I can get the young lady to smile."

He approached the table and with a gloved hand, held it out to Haru.

"Oh no, I'm a meaowzy dancer, oh!" she covered her mouth, "Now I'm even starting to talk like a cat!"

But the cat continued to hold out his hand to her.

"Trust me." He said softly, and Harry had to admit that something about this cat seemed worthy of trust.

Not to mention his voice…it sounded familiar…

The band began to play a simple and almost hypnotic toon. He watched as Haru took his hand and was led onto the dance floor.

Wait a minute, Harry thought, hand?

That's right, this cat didn't have paws like the others. He hadn't really noticed, but if he wasn't mistaken…His face broke into a grin.

Haru let out a gasp, then said in a soft voice that Harry barely overheard.

"Then that means you're…"  
"Hold it!" The music came to an abrupt halt as the king made his accusation, "You aren't from my kingdom…who are you?"

"Forgive me." Baron said slowly, then took off his mask, then hat, he turned around in a flourish of a cape.

"I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and I am here for Haru."

"Baron!" Haru cried, throwing her arms around him into a hug.

"He's so cool!" Harry heard the cat with the tan fur and brown patch over his ear say, much to his amusement.

"No! I won't let you!" The king roared throwing over the table and food, "Guards! Guards!"

Some big and burly cats entered the room all painted green camouflage with angry faces and tense muscles.

"Stupify!" Harry shouted as one of the cats got to close to the Baron.

The Baron turned, eyebrow raised. Harry's disillusionment faded, revealing him to the room.

"You didn't forget about me, did you?" Harry asked cheekily.

Baron laughed and pulled out his cane,

"No, indeed not, Harry."

"Stupify." Harry cast another stunner at a big cat, he'd need a something better though…something that could take down more than one of these big cats.

"Impedimenta!" Harry shouted, the spell hit a cat, which knocked it with such force that it knocked back several other cats.

Like dominoes, Harry thought with mild amusement.

"Harry, we need a distraction." Baron said knocking back another guard.

A million ideas ran through Harry's head,

"Um, there is a spell I learned last year." He admitted, "Hermione tried to show me. Let's see if I can pull it off."  
"Harry," Baron said seriously, and Harry found himself looking into his glowing golden eyes, "Believe in yourself."  
Harry looked down at his wand and felt a surge of confidence. He could do this, he decided. He pointed his wand at one of the tables, this was about the highest level of transfiguration he knew. But he could definitely pull it off,

"Draconifors!" he shouted.

All the guests ran away screaming with a big, (Well not big at all to Harry) dragon appeared in the place of the table.

Harry jumped around the corner as the guards tried to take care of it. Yuki was there too for some reason.

"There's a trap door here." She said, opening up a small square hole, "Now hurry, you need to leave."

"Who are you?" Baron asked curiously.

Yuki bowed her head,

"My name is Yuki…I work here at the palace. Now go, hurry."

Baron nodded, then jumped down, Haru went next, then Harry who paused before leaving.

"Thank you, Yuki. For everything." He said sincerely.

"You're a great wizard, Harry. Have faith in yourself." Yuki told him.

"I will." Harry said sincerely, he'd managed to pull of the draconifors transfiguration spell. If he wasn't a good wizard, then he wouldn't have been able to do that.

With one final goodbye, Harry slid down the hole. It was a long way down, and Harry could hear Haru scream a bit.

She reached the bottom first then cleared out of the way quickly before Harry landed, crouched on his feet. His balance had much improved after some of Fay's training, even if it had been short.

"Good job, Harry. That was quite an impressive display back there." The Baron praised, "Not that I know much about magic."

"Thanks." Harry said, "It doesn't last long though, that sort of spell. Especially if I'm farther away from it. We'll have to hurry…er, where are we going anyways?"

"The top of that tower." Baron pointed, to Harry's dismay it was the tallest one.

"Of course." Harry rolled his eyes, "I knew we were going to have to go through the maze…and the highest tower too."

Haru laughed a little, but Harry could sense a bit of nervousness.

"We need to get Haru back before the sun rises otherwise she'll be stuck as a cat forever." Baron explained.

Harry nodded, figuring it would be something like that.

"Let's go then." Harry grinned, "Onwards, into the maze!"

Baron smiled, then led the way into the labyrinth. And it was a labyrinth. They were maybe an eighth of the way through when Baron murmured something,

"We need to speed up a bit."

"It's still noon." Haru said.

"It's always noon." The Baron said grimly, "In the human world it's about…midnight." He said checking his pocket watch.

"What?" Haru gasped, "We have to go faster…um, which way." She asked looking around uncertainly.

"Just keep a level head." Baron said calmly, "We'll go through this methodically. One piece at a time. Keep your eyes on the tower, that should help us keep out bearings."  
"Good idea." Haru said.

"I have another idea." Harry added in, "Remember how I said I could talk to snakes?"

Baron nodded, looking at Harry curiously,

"You have an idea?"

"I've only seen it done once…" Harry trailed off, "It's a spell that's supposed to conjure snakes. If I can pull it off, we might be able to use them to figure out the best rout if we send them off ahead."

"Can you do it?" The baron asked.

Harry let out a sigh and closed his eyes, thinking back to the dueling club in second year.

"It depends on whether I can remember the spell properly. It never hurts to try though, right?"

The Baron nodded,

"If you believe you can, then you probably can."  
Harry held out his wand, face twisted in concentration he raised his wand abruptly,

"Serpensortia!" a snake came out of the wand, hissing.

"**Why am I here?"** it's tongue flickered in and out.

"**I need you to go down that way. This is a maze; we need to get out. I was hoping if you could check to see if it is a dead end."** Harry hissed.

Haru let out a gasp while the Baron watched the interaction with fascination.

"**Very well, speaker…"** the snake slithered off down the maze.

"Serpensortia!" Harry called, "Serpensortia, Serpensortia. Serpensortia. Serpensortia."

Eventually Harry had conjured up thirty different snakes. He was panting and covered in sweat.

"I think that's enough, Harry." The Baron said, "You're looking rather tired. I don't want you pushing yourself too hard."  
Harry nodded, then hissed his request, sending the snakes off in every which direction. When some returned, he sent them down different paths until he was certain he'd found a proper trail.

"No, not that way." Harry told them every once in a while, "That's a dead end…this way." He could hear the snakes shouting from far away, telling him the path was clear.

It wasn't long before they were more than half way through.

"That's amazing, Harry." Haru said, watching the snakes go by.

"Yes, a very useful ability." Baron agreed.

Harry smiled a bit bitter,

"I'm glad you think so. Back home, being a parslemouth isn't exactly a good thing."

"A what?" Haru asked curiously.

"Parslemouth." Harry repeated, "A person who can talk to snakes. It's got a stigma surrounding it. They say that anyone who can talk to snakes is a dark wizard."  
"And a dark wizard is bad, I take it?" Baron asked him curiously.

"Yeah." Harry said with a bit of a sigh, "Dark magic is magic that is created with the intention of harming others. Like the killing curse or…the cruciatus curse." Harry grimaced, "Those two are apart of the three unforgivable curses a wizard or witch can cast. The third being the Imperius curse."

The Baron appeared rather curious at this,

"I can understand the first two. Cruciatus means 'pain' or 'torture' in Latin, correct?"

Harry nodded, not at all surprised by the Baron's knowledge of Latin.

"Yeah. The Cruciatus curse is also known as the torture curse. The Imperius is a curse that's used to control people. Kind of like hypnosis, I suppose." Harry added so they might understand just what it was these curses did, "The Imperius is unique among the three being the only one that can be resisted. You need to have a strong will though, and strength of character."

Baron smiled at this thoughtfully,

"So the Imperius is something that takes away free will. I can see how it would be something frowned upon, or unforgiveable even."

"Yeah…" Harry trailed off, but was cut off from saying more when the sound of marching came from behind them.

"The guards!" Baron said pulling out his cane, "Haru, get behind me." He ordered.

The cat guards approached them, all looking large and angry. They swiped at Baron, who promptly wicked them effectively with his cane. He looked just a bit like Kurogone…but his stance was slightly different. A sword fighting style, Harry observed, vaguely acknowledging the fact that he could identify such a thing.

All the guards were taken out within seconds flat. It was rather impressive, really.

They then took off walking down the maze.

"It seems the kind is getting rather upset at our progress." The Baron said, and Harry was rather impressive at his ability to stay calm. It wasn't like Syaoran. The Baron was more…uncaring, airy and smooth in his fighting and mannerisms while Syaoran was burning like fire, intense and focused.

They continued on down the maze.

"Baron?" Harry asked tiredly.

"What is it, Harry?" he asked looking at him and noticing his fatigue.

"I think I might need to dismiss some of my snakes. I thought I could keep it up for longer than this, but thirty conjuring spells at once is a bit much."

"Then do it." Baron said looking alert, "We're nearly at the end, I doubt we need it anymore. And you've done very well."  
Harry let out a sigh as he released some of the strain on his magic. He still kept about five about. Harry's eyes widened,

"I think one of them found the end." Harry said excitedly.

"It did?" Haru asked joining in Harry's good mood.

"Yes, this way." Harry gestured, then turned right into…a wall? Harry frowned, that couldn't be right, but he as sure the snake had gone this way.

"Harry, did you take a wrong turn?" Haru asked.

"I was certain I sent my snake down this way…" Harry trailed off.

Baron looked at the wall critically,

"It doesn't look right." He said.

"Hey, you're right." Haru observed, "Look, there's a gap between the floor and the wall. We've never seen that before."  
Harry just then noticed that she was correct in her assessment.

"This wall is a fake!" Baron said, then kicked down the wall.

A cat let out a yowl, then another cat let out another yowl.

Had they ben lined up like dominoes? Harry wondered amusedly. They quickly ran over the cat dominoes and through to the end of the maze. Harry released the remaining snake conjurations as he ran.

Then began their trek up the tower. Haru began to slow down half way up.

"Go on, I'll catch up." She said.

But the Baron wasn't having it. He lifted her up, bridal style and started running with her in his arms. Harry raised an eyebrow when he saw Haru's whiskers grow. He vaguely wondered if Haru had gotten a bit of a crush on the Baron.

A few guards appeared through an open door, then made their way down to try and get the small group, only for the stairs to crumble beneath their feet and to fall down. The Baron, Harry and Haru just made their way along the edge cautiously, then continued running up the stairs.

They were inside a sort of room now, though all that separated the outside were these pillars of stone.

They were about to continue upwards when they were stopped by a massive "BOOM BOOM BOOM!" Then the tower began to fall.

"Hold on tight!" The Baron ordered.

Harry braced himself against a pillar while Baron grabbed Haru and pulled her to the pillar he was holding onto.

They were falling, falling down and down. Harry was pretty sure he was screaming; he could hear Haru scream as well. The Baron was oddly silent though.

Then the tower seemed to slow in it's crumbling, and come to a halt. Harry didn't stop clutching at the pillar though until he was absolutely sure it was safe.

"Now what?" Harry asked, moving away from the very safe pillar cautiously.

The Baron let out a sigh,

"I'm afraid I don't know." He admitted.

"So…what?" Harry asked, "We just wait here?" His thoughts were running faster than a freight train trying to come up with some sort of solution.

He didn't have enough energy left for any sort of large scale reparo spells. Harry grimaced, if only they had more time…

"If I had another day I might be able to repair the tower." Harry admitted, "I don't suppose there's any way that's possible?" he asked weakly.

"Sorry, Harry." The Baron shook his head.

Harry groaned,

"Okay…what about the exit? Just because the tower's broken doesn't mean the door is, right?"

The Baron looked a bit surprised by this, then looked up,

"You might well be onto something…" But before he could say anything further, they were surrounded by guards.

"I should have come up with that one earlier." Harry murmured.

"No times for ifs or buts, Harry." The Baron said calmly.

The cat king looked at Harry wearily as did nearly everyone there.

"Who are you?" the king hissed out.

Harry gave a dramatic bow,

"Just your friendly neighbourhood wizard, passing through."

"Oh, so a wizard is working for the cat bureaux now?" the cat king drawled.

Harry shrugged,

"I wouldn't say working; I don't exactly get paid…I guess you could call me an intern. Baron, does that term work for you?" Harry asked, having no clue where the sudden humour was coming from. Maybe Fay and Kurogone's antics had rubbed off on him.

"That seems accurate." The Baron agreed.

"Well in that case," the cat king said slyly, "Why not work for me, instead? You could be my personal wizard, and I'd be willing to offer a nice fee, you dig?"

Harry blinked a few times, wondering why the cat king was talking in slurs…weird. Harry shrugged,

"Eh, not interested. I'm here to learn, I don't care all that much for money anyways." He dismissed.

The Baron smiled,

"Well said, Harry. I'm honored you think I have so much to teach."

"And I am honored you allowed me to learn from you." Harry said, mimicking his polite tone.

The king growled, only to be interrupted by a very polite sounding voice.

"Father?" a tom cat with grey-blue fur much like the king's asked. Although this cat was far more handsome then the shaggy king.

"What have you done, father. Yuki wrote to me asking me to return immediately. What is this?" he demanded, though still somehow managed to sound polite.

"I'm guessing that's the prince." Harry said out loud for absolutely no reason as no one seemed to be paying attention to him anymore anyways.

The prince at least seemed reasonable.

"Son!" the king said with surprise, and much as a child would who had been discovered with their hand in the cookie jar, "I just thought you'd like to take Haru here as your bride, considering she saved your life and all."

"I see…" the prince said, then he eyed Yuki from her spot with the servants, "Yuki, I was out in the human world for only one reason." Prince Lune said, "I went to buy these for you. Please, accept them as a token of my undying love."  
Yuki, surprised, went over and took the gift from the prince. She unwrapped it and let out a gasp,

"Oh my…I haven't had these since I was a kitten." She said softly.

Haru looked over her shoulder and looked just as shocked,

"Hey, I remember I used to have those as a kid…"  
"I know." Yuki said, "You fed me a whole box of these when I was just a kitten."  
Haru's eyes opened wide with recognition,

"That was you? That dirty looking kitten? I hardly recognise you, you're so beautiful!"  
Realization dawned on Harry. That girl just couldn't help it, she just couldn't resist helping a cat in need, it seemed.

The celebration however, was cut short by the king's overdramatic sobs.

"This is all touching and everything." The king said, "Son, I had no idea you already had a bride picked out." He turned to Haru, "Poor Haru…you must feel like such a looser."

"Not really." Haru said bluntly.

"No, I'm sure you do." The king said, "So how about this, we can get married, and I'll buy you those fish cakes too, as a token of my undying love and stuff."

Haru bristled,

"That is enough out of you! No one tells me who I am or when I'm getting married other than me!" she shouted, and Harry chuckled slightly as the king cringed back.

"Is that a no?" the old cat wondered.

"Well said." Harry grinned, "Now let's go get you home, Haru."  
"Guards!" the king shouted, "Stop them!"

"Soldiers!" Prince Lune commanded, "Attack!"  
It turned into a big battle, all stumbling into chaos.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry shouted, casting it on Haru and flinging her up half way up the stairs.

"Run, Haru!" Harry shouted, "Go quickly, there isn't much time."  
Haru met his eyes a moment, then nodded determinedly. Harry cast a few stunners at some of the cats that seemed to be the biggest threat, then took off running as well, along with the Baron. They were about half-way when the Baron ducked, dodging a sword.

Harry looked back at him.

"Go!" The Baron ordered, "Protect Haru, I've got this."

"Fight like a man, you chicken!" the king's voice shouted.

"With pleasure." The Baron said before Harry turned again and ran as fast as he could up the stairs.

Harry saw Haru jump up through the doorway at the top, then let out a scream causing Harry to pale drastically.

"Where am I!?" Haru's voice cried.

Harry rushed up as fast as he could, then jumped up through the hole. Not his best idea in hindsight. He found himself suspended thousands of feet above the world. The sun was just beginning to rise, and Haru was clinging onto the stone piece of the exit as best she could, but she was slipping. Harry grabbed her arms, then felt himself begin to grow.

His glasses fell off his face, making the world a blur. He let out a curse.

"Great," he said sarcastically, "Now I'm in mortal peril and I can't see…And isn't it a little sad that this is probably the nicest morning I've had in a while?"

Haru just shot him an incredulous look.

"I was trying to be funny." Harry told her weakly.

"I don't think now's really the time, Harry." Haru said practically hyperventilating.

"Probably not." Harry agreed. The wind was pushing him in every which direction and he was pretty sure he was about to fall. But he held on anyways.

"Haru, Harry!" the Baron came out of the exit just as Harry couldn't balance any further. Both of them screamed.

"Is there any spell you might be able to use to stop us from falling!?" Haru cried.

Harry wasn't thinking straight, but his mind was still reaching for whatever answers he could find.

"Well?" Haru asked.

"I'm thinking!" Harry shouted, "Give me a minute, it's not like we don't have a bit of time!"  
His mind went to everything he could possibly think of. Then it hit him.

"I've got it!" Harry shouted.

"Harry, Haru!" it was the Baron, he had grabbed onto Haru with his cane.

"Open your eyes!" he ordered.

"I'm too scared!" Haru shouted.

"Trust me." The Baron said a little less intensely.

Harry was the first to open his eyes, though the world was still a blur. Haru's eyes opened moments later and they seemed to spread out.

It must have been a minute later and Harry actually found himself enjoying the scenery, when a flock of black birds flew up towards them, slowing their movements.

"What?" Harry thought as he found himself, Haru and the Baron walking on a bunch of crows.

"I'm not late, am I?" a black bird asked.

"Toto!" Haru gasped out in surprise.

Toto laughed happily,

"I was worried. Wasn't sure if I had enough friends in the area." He said.

Harry felt his pounding heart begin to slow. They walked down the rows of birds, hundred, no, thousands of feet in the air. But they weren't afraid anymore.

Soon they came down on the roof of a school. Harry wondered if it was common for schools in Japan to allow their students on top of the roof. It seemed they had a volleyball set out here, and a door which led into the school…

"Baron!" Haru said, looking at the small cat figurine who stood on the rails of the school, "Just for the record, I think I might have a bit of a crush on you."  
Harry smiled slightly.

"Just for the record," the Baron said, "I admire a young woman who speaks from the heart." He looked at Harry, "I'll have Muta pick you up if you wish to come to the bureaux. He'll be outside the school in a few minutes."  
"Thank you." Harry grinned.

"Until then," the Baron tipped his hat, "Trust yourselves!" he took off into a spinning jump, then was whisked away by Toto.

Harry laughed outright. He never would have imagined going on such a grand adventure as that. The Baron had already taught him lots, to believe in himself, to not bow your head to fate…


	6. Chapter 6

**Alright! This is the wrap-up for The Cat Returns, and onto another arc!**

**So…I've written other versions of the Animetopoeia. One of them is a Magical Girls version where Harry is sent to a bunch of different worlds with magical girls (kind of funny. Makes Harry a little more romantic). I have the Dark Animetopoeia where Harry is sent to different worlds where he's forced to learn to become a killer.**

**This is the original Animetopoeia, or, as I have been calling it, The Fanfic that Never Ends!**

**Seriously though, I'm considering posting the other Animetopoeia versions. I didn't expect this story to get this much love in just a day, especially when I never really thought it was any good.**

**I think I'll put up a few more chapters and see how that does before making my decision.**

**Now, without further ado!  
I do not own Harry Potter.  
I do not own Bleach, Fairy Tail, Tsubasa Chronicles, The Seven Deadly Sins, Yu Yu Hakushou, The Cat Returns, or any anime or manga ever!**

**Maybe someday…But not today.**

**Anyways, on with the story!**

Harry returned to the cat bureaux that day, asking the Baron if he could stay in one of the bigger houses for a while. The Baron obliged, offering to give him a bit of training while Harry studied Fay's book. The Baron actually gave him the option of fixing his eyes. There was an old woman, a witch who lived not far down.

There was some magic in this world, it turned out. But 'Witch' and 'Wizard' meant two different types of magical practitioner.

The witch, Sophie, actually managed to perfect his vision, much to Harry's pleasure.

He spent an entire year learning sword play from the Baron. And Magic from Fay's book. He attended a local high school, actually catching up in his non-magical classes with a bit of help.

Then he had enough and bid goodbye to the Baron, his second mentor.

"I've learned my lesson." Harry stated.

Ana came in a cat bus once again.

"All aboard!" she shouted.

Harry just laughed,

"Ana, isn't that used for trains?" he asked her.

Ana just shrugged,

"It if works for trains, it can work for cat buses. That's the rule." She said decidedly.

Harry just snickered, wondering what sort of rule that was. He got on the cat bus none-the-less.

"My my, Mister Potter." Ana said looking through her notebook, "An entire year in the world of _The Cat Returns._ I suppose you would just want to hunker down and relax a while like a normal teen. Can't blame you. But just remember, until your lessons are complete, you'll be stuck at fifteen."

"You never told me that." Harry said looking at her with alarm.

Ana blinked,

"I didn't?" she thought about this a while then shrugged her shoulders, "Oh well. It seems you've been getting stronger too. That will be good, especially for this next world."

"Where to now?" Harry asked wearily, he'd read a few manga from this world, but he wasn't sure if they'd coreless with the anime and manga in reality.

"Fairy Tail." She grinned widely, "It's an entire world of Wizards. Now, your goal is to get into the Fairy Tail guild."

"Fairy Tail Guild." Harry repeated, "Alright, but what is it?" he asked curiously.

"A wizarding guild." Ana smirked, "But not the sort of wand waving stuff you're used to."

Harry thought on this,

"I've been learning the magic from the country of Celes, Fay's country. It's word magic that isn't cast with a wand." He explained.

"Can it be used in combat?" Ana asked.

"Yes…" Harry said hesitantly, "Though what I'm really hoping to find is a sword. I've been practicing how to channel magic through objects. Not to mention I'm really quite good at sword play."

Ana looked thoughtful, then looked down at Harry's bag. It was a simple brown bag slung carelessly over his shoulder.

Some papers appeared in Ana's hands,

"Here you go. Papers of identification for the land of Fiore. You can rent an apartment, get some work, all that stuff. Keep it in your bag."

"Thanks." Harry said, putting the papers in a side pouch. That would be useful at least.

"There's a bit of start up money." Ana said, "But that's all you're getting for your trip."  
"I can handle it, Ana." Harry decided.

Ana snorted,

"Yeah, hold that thought." Her voice faded, as did the world around Harry who suddenly realized his eyes were closed.

He opened his eyes and found himself falling from the sky. He let out a small shout, then hit the ground hard…or rather, hit a person hard.

"Ow…"

"I'm sorry!" Harry said getting up off the ground automatically, "Are you alright? Are you hurt?" it was a guy with pink hair, dressed in a black vest with yellow trim and baggy grey pants.

"Wow, that was random."

Harry turned his head to see a talking blue cat, walking on it's hind legs…huh, he thought, this world had talking cats too.

It was then Harry realized that he was surrounded by a crowd of girls…and one guy with blue hair. Seriously, did no one in this world have natural colored hair?  
"Um…" Harry said self consciously, "Hi?"

"Who are you?" the blue haired man sneered.

"Uh…My name's Harry." Harry said slowly, "Sorry about…crushing your friend?" it came out as more of a question mark, "I didn't mean to though, I swear!"  
The man sneered,

"It doesn't matter; it's not like I know him."

Wow, Harry thought, he already didn't like this guy. He smirked at the girls, then snapped his fingers, a carpet of purple-red flame appeared beneath his feet and thrust him up into the air,

"I'm having a party at my ship tonight. And all you ladies are invited." He winked and Harry felt a shiver go up his spine. So…avoid him, he thought to himself.

The girls let out fangirlish squeals, then ran after the man stupidly.

"That guy's a real sleaze."

Harry turned around to see a girl with blond hair, a very short skirt, a tight blue shirt and rather, er, impressive assets.

"I noticed. I think he was using compulsions of some sort."

"You're a wizard?" the girl asked with surprise.

Harry was a bit startled by this question until he remembered that Ana said everyone in this world practiced magic.

"Yes, I am." He said slowly, "Am I to guess you are as well, Miss?"

"Lucy." She introduced, "Lucy Heartfilia."

"Harry Potter." Harry said, relaxing a bit.

She looked a little bit like an adventurer with the whip attached to her hip and, oddly enough a chain of keys attached to the loop of her belt.

"You have a bit of an accent." Lucy noted.

"I'm not really from around here." Harry admitted, then remembered the pink haired guy on the ground, "Oh, oh right!" he said looking down at the unconscious guy, "Um…I guess I ought to fix him up, huh?" he chuckled awkwardly.

"You know some healing spells?" she asked curiously.

"Just a couple." Harry admitted, "And the only one I'm really good at is just for small cuts and bruises, I'm afraid. But I am good at making potions, most of them medical."

He opened up his bag and reached inside. Then began pulling out some potions quickly, looking them over, then coming to a decision he uncorked one of the bottles and placed it under the guy's nose. The pink haired guy woke up abruptly.

"What's that?" the blue cat asked curiously looking at the vial.

"Smelling salts." Harry explained, "If you have someone unconscious smell it, they'll wake up. Er…probably."

"Does it taste any good?" the pink haired guy asked.

Harry shot him a strange look,

"No, you aren't supposed to eat it…and why would you even want to? It's not supposed to smell good."

The pink haired guy shrugged and Harry wondered if he might have done more damage than originally intended.

"Er…I didn't realize I'd hurt you that badly, I'm sorry."

The blue cat started laughing while the pink haired guy looked confused.

"Don't worry about Natsu, he's always like that." The cat said, "I'm Happy, by the way."

"Oh, nice to meet you." Harry said, "I'm Harry Potter."

"So you're a wizard?" Happy asked him curiously.

"Yeah, I am." Harry smiled slightly, "I've traveled a long way from home though. I came here hoping to join a wizarding guild."

"Oh, you're looking for a guild to join?" Happy asked, "Are you strong?"

Harry shrugged,

"I don't know about that. My main practice is Celest magic. It's an odd branch here, I suppose." He paused, "I'm really strong in sword magic too but…" he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "I kind of need a new sword. I'm hoping for a katana. Once I find it I can modify it with my magic, hopefully. Er, sorry, I guess I kind of started rambling again."  
"That's fine." Happy said dismissively.

"Oh, right!" Harry said, "Since I kind of sort of fell on you, how about I treat you to lunch?"

The pink haired guy looked up at Harry abruptly,

"Really?"

Harry shrugged awkwardly,

"It kind of seems like the least I can do. Would you like to join us?" Harry asked the blond, then opened up his bag to see a bundle of money there. About fourteen thousand Jewels…whatever that meant.

"Well…um, I guess. But you don't really have to…"  
"I'll buy." Harry cut her off, "But on the condition that you tell me a bit more about Fiore. I'm not from this country so…"  
Lucy smiled,

"In that case, I saw a small diner around the corner."

"Lead the way." Harry offered, "Is that alright with you guys?" he asked pink hair and Happy.

"Free food is always good with me." Pink hair said giving him a thumbs up.

Harry laughed a bit,

"That's good. By the way, what's your name? I can't keep calling you 'pink hair' in my head. It seems kind of rude."  
"It's Natsu." He introduced, "Natsu Dragneel."

"Nice to meet you, Natsu." Harry said politely.


	7. Chapter 7

**By this point, Harry is becoming very OP.**

**Old fic equals super-Harry…among other overused tropes.**

**But I was reading over the story and couldn't help but find myself having a bit of fun. It is a fanfic, I'm allowed to use overused tropes if I want to.**

**So, Harry is in the Fairy Tail world now. That's going to be fun. He's going to learn a lot of new magic.**

**If anyone wants to write a story about Animetopoeia, go ahead. I'd like to see what you come up with. Animetopoeia is the only character that is mine in this story.**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail, Tsubasa Chronicles, Yu Yu Hakushou, or The Cat Returns.**

They entered a small dinner and took a seat at a side booth. Natsu and Happy ordered a ton of food and Harry was relieved to find that he had more than enough to pay the bill. Lucy ordered some Ramen while Harry ordered the same upon her suggestion.

"That Salamander guy was using a magic called 'charm.' It's a magic that attracts other people's hearts to the caster." Lucy explained.

Harry frowned,

"What a creep." He shivered.

"I know." Lucy said righteously, "It was banned by the magic council several years ago…anyways, anyone who uses things like that are the lowest of the low. But thanks to that scene you guys caused the 'charm' was broken. Honestly I should be buying you a meal."

Harry shook his head,

"Don't worry about it. I was just paid to do a bit of free lance work not long ago, so you caught me in a giving mood."

Lucy smiled happily,

"That's nice. What was the job?"

"Save a girl from transforming into a cat." Harry said, deciding to add in a hint of the truth.

"That sounds like a complex curse." Lucy noted, "And you're good at making things like healing potions…are you training to become a healer or something?"

"No." Harry shook his head, "I just tend to find myself in situations that call for a bit of healing potion. I do a lot of experimenting too." Harry added, "My previous mentor would constantly yell at me for blowing things up."

"That sounds a bit dangerous." Lucy commented.

Harry shrugged,

"Not if you move out of the way fast enough."

Natsu laughed,

"I like your style, Jerry."  
Harry looked at Natsu oddly,

"It's Harry." He corrected, then turned back to Lucy, "Do you think you could tell me a bit about the guilds? Please forgive me if I sound ignorant on matters."  
"Not, it's fine." Lucy said brightly, "I'm not a member of any guild yet myself. Basically, a guild is an association of mages. A place where information on magic, jobs and other information is regulated and available to Wizards. A Wizard won't be considered full fledged though, until they've joined a guild." She explained.

"But, there's many guilds all over the world." She continued, "And they popular ones are pretty difficult to get into." Then she let out a fangirlish squeal and began bouncing in her seat, "What should I do? Many great mages will gather at the one I want to get into. I bet it will be hard!"

"Er," Harry said trying to get her to calm down, "What…exactly do you need to do to get into a guild here, anyways?"

Lucy shrugged,

"It's different, depending on where you want to go." She explained, "But it could be a test, a practical demonstration of your magic or knowledge, anything really."  
Harry thought about this. If they tested him on his magical knowledge he'd be in trouble.

"That's a bit worrying. I'm not from around here." Harry repeated, "And I doubt they'd test me on Celes magic…that's the branch I use."  
"Celes?" Lucy asked tilting her head, "What sort of magic is it?"

Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair,

"Mm, it's kind of difficult to explain. A portion of it is word magic, but another part of it is elemental. But I've studies all sorts of magic, so I often incorporate other spells into my style. Transfiguration magic for example."  
"Transfiguration?" Lucy asked, "Could you show me?"

Harry nodded,

"Sure." He took out his wand from his wrist guard, it was something the Baron had helped him make, "Serpensortia."

A snake appeared on the table and Lucy let out a squeal.

"Don't worry, he won't hurt you." Harry said slowly, then vanished the snake with a wave of his wand, "That was a conjuring spell. Or, a spell that creates something out of nothing." Harry explained.

Natsu was looking at where the snake had just been,

"That's cool. Can you like, conjure food as well?"

Harry shook his head,

"No, there's limits to transfiguration. One of the rules is not making your own food." Harry explained.

Natsu looked down hearted though,

"That's lame." He murmured.

Harry shot him an amused look,

"Most transfiguration spells are turning something into something else. It's a very dangerous and technical form of magic though. You have to learn several equations and think them through mentally as you go through the spell."  
"Really?" Natsu asked, "That sounds hard. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it."

"So it takes lots of studying from books I'm guessing." Lucy reasoned.

"Yeah." Harry agreed, "I used to have to write down my work before casting the spell. But now I can pull most transfigurations off relatively easy. Like I said before though, Celes magic is my main branch, well, Celes magic combined with sword magic. Which reminds me, do either of you know a good place I can find a katana?"

Lucy looked thoughtful,

"I think I passed a blacksmith a while back. I can show you if you'd like."  
Harry nodded,

"That would be much appreciated." He looked at Natsu he had, thankfully slowed down eating and had finished his meal.

"So, what brings you two to this town, Natsu, Happy?" Harry asked curiously. He had a sense that the two of them were important to this particular story somehow.

"I was looking for Igneel." Natsu answered, "I heard there was a salamander coming to town, but that guy sure didn't look like one…I bet he couldn't even breathe fire either."

Harry shot him a confused look,

"You aren't…talking about a human, are you?"

Natsu shook his head,

"No, Igneel's a real dragon."

There was a long pause, when Harry spoke up again,

"Why would there be a dragon in the middle of a town like this?" he turned to Lucy, "Is this one of those weird customs I'm not getting?"

"Ah!" Natsu said, and it seemed that him and Happy had only just thought of that.

Harry laughed a little,

"Well, I should get going. Again, sorry for falling on you." He turned to Lucy, "So, will you show me where that blacksmith is?"  
"Thanks for coming." The server bowed, then looked at something behind Harry in shock.

Harry turned around to see both Natsu and Happy bowing on the ground.

"Thank you for the food." Natsu said.

"Aye, thank you." The blue cat agreed.

Harry blinked a few times, while Lucy looked rather embarrassed.

"You don't need to bow." Harry told them, "I did sort of accidentally hurt you."

"But it wasn't that bad." Natsu said in a hushed sort of tone to Happy.

"Aye, I feel like we owe him something." The cat agreed.

"You don't owe me anything." Harry insisted, then paused, realizing they weren't going to let this one go, "But, if you really feel indebted to me, you could tell me what magic guild you think is the best. I need to start my research somewhere."

"That's all?" Natsu blinked a few times.

"It would be helpful." Harry agreed.

Natsu grinned,

"The Fairy Tail guild then, definitely!"

Harry smiled back,

"Then I guess that's where I'll start my search. Thanks, Natsu. I guess I'll see you there, later."

Natsu nodded as Harry and Lucy exited the dinner.

"What do you mean you'll 'see him there later?'" Lucy asked Harry curiously.

"Just a suspicion." Harry shrugged, "One of my teachers taught me to make observations about people. It's just a guess, but I'd say Natsu is a wizard as well."

"He's a wizard?" Lucy asked surprised.

Harry chuckled lightly,

"Again, it's just a guess."

The blacksmith wasn't far at all. Just a few blocks away. Harry looked at some of the swords displayed on the shelves curiously. He dismissed the ones that were already glowing with magic. He looked through a chest to find a lot of messily stored swords.

Harry took one out, noting the sheath and size. It was a good length for someone of Harry's stature, with a black ribbon and crystal ball on the end decoratively.

It wasn't magical, which made it perfect. And it was inexpensive, well within Harry's price range.

"You sure you want to buy that one, sir?" the smith asked uncertainly, "There's no magic in it."

"I know." Harry said, "I like to personalize my own weapon with enchantments though. Not to mention the artistry you put in the blade is amazing."

The blacksmith straightened, quite happy at the complement,

"You know your swords then; I assume?"

Harry nodded,

"I've been studying swordplay a while. I've picked up on what I like and what I don't in a weapon." The man nodded, "You're a wizard aren't you? A lot of powerful wizards with the knowledge like to add their own enchantments."

"I am." Harry confirmed, "What's your price?"

"Two thousand jewels."

Harry nodded, it seemed fair enough. More than fair even. He was sure it was four thousand jewels before. It seemed the man was giving him a discount. There was no need to bargain further. He took out some money and handed it over.

"Thank you for your patronage." He said.

"Thank you for such a good price." Harry shot back, leaving the store fully content.

Harry spent a good time sitting on a bench and casting some enchantments on his sword. He needed to make it easier to channel magic through it by drawing out the appropriate ruin scheme. He was done around the time it had grown dark.

Harry hummed to himself, wondering if he ought to camp out the night somewhere. He didn't want to waste what little money he had on a hotel. Fourteen thousand jewels wasn't a lot, not really. He'd need to find some place to work soon…

He looked up at the sound of footsteps and was surprised to see Natsu.

"I ate a lot." He said satisfactorily.

"Natsu?" Harry asked looking up at them.

Natsu and Happy looked up at him in surprise.

"Ah! You!" Natsu pointed at him, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just experimenting with this sword here." Harry explained, "I wanted to make it easier to channel my magic. I've drawn out a nice ruin scheme but it looks like it's going to need a rounder schematic…maybe if I added he highliph ruin in the center…"  
"Yeah, that's great, Terry."  
"It's Harry." Harry corrected him.

"So you're really good at that brainy stuff?" Happy asked him curiously.

Harry shrugged,

"I guess. I don't know about the ruin systems they use in this country, but I'm hoping to learn it. Does Fairy Tail have a good library, Natsu?"

"Yeah, it's enormous…but wait, how did you know I was in Fairy Tail?" he asked curiously.

Harry shrugged,

"The way you move speaks of martial training, the scars and blisters on your hands suggest a job where fighting is normal, or part of a regular routine. That doesn't necessarily mean mage, but some sort of hazardous occupation. What tipped me off was the food though. You weren't effected by how hot it was, even though the waitress apologized."

"Wow, you're really smart." Natsu said wide eyed.

Harry chuckled,

"I don't know about that. I'm just observant. Besides, if I was really smart I'm pretty sure I wouldn't blow things up all the time."  
Natsu laughed,

"You're alright, Berry!" he said patting him on the back.

Harry shot him a strange look,

"Seriously, are you getting my name wrong on purpose, or…"  
"That's just Natsu." Happy said with a decisive nod.

A couple of young women were giggling a few paces away,

"Isn't that the Salamander's ship?" one of them asked.

"Salamander?"

"You don't know?" her friend asked in shock, "It's that famous mage that's in town. I heard he's from that famous Fairy Tail."  
Natsu froze and Harry noticed the strange posture.

"I take it he isn't in Fairy Tail." Harry guessed.

Natsu's eyes gained a hard edge,

"No. He's not." He turned to Happy, "We're storming the ship." He decided.

"Right behind you, Natsu." The blue cat nodded, losing all silliness. White wings grew from it's back and Harry watched with surprise as Happy lifted Natsu into the sky and the two started flying towards the ship.

Harry frowned, wondering if he ought to get involved…he looked down at the sword on his lap and grabbed it in his hand, it disappeared in a whirl of dark blue ruins.

"Well then," Harry thought out loud, "Time to make my debut."

He whistled a small tone, letting magic enter his song, words surrounded him, then completely encased him. The ruins then fell to the ground like water and vanished and Harry found himself on a boat.

"Harry?" It was Lucy, she was being restrained by a group of very burly looking men.

"Huh…" Harry said, "It actually worked. That spell is tricky to pull off, especially with how far away your boat was." He looked at the blue haired man, 'Salamander' with a slight smirk.

Boom!

Natsu came crashing in through the roof.

"Natsu!?" Lucy gasped out, and Harry could see hope in her eyes.

Then, to Harry's fascination, Natsu turned green and covered his mouth.

"Motion sickness?" Harry wondered, looking at Natsu incredulously.

"Ugh! You are so lame!" Lucy shouted.

Harry let out a small sigh, then opened up his bag and tossed a small vial to Happy.

"Feed that to Natsu, will you? It's a potion that ought to aid with motion sickness…well, probably."

"Probably?" Happy echoed.

"It might just turn his skin blue." Harry admitted.

Happy shrugged, then uncorked the vial, pushing the potion to Natsu's mouth.

"Who are you, brat?" the man with blue hair sneered.

"Harry Potter." He grinned, "At your service, now then…"

Natsu let out a gasp, then stood up.  
"I'm alive!"

Harry face palmed, then turned to Happy,

"Just…get Lucy out of here." Harry said, "You can fly her back to shore, right?"

Happy smiled, then wrapped his tail around Lucy's waist. They took off flying, Lucy screaming as they went up into the sky.

"I can't believe you cured my motion sickness!" Natsu grinned.

Harry shook his head,

"It's only temporary." He said, "That was my last vial but I'll try to make some more later if you need it."

Natsu grinned,

"Thanks, Hoppy."

"That's not even a name." Harry rolled his eyes, then let his sword appear in his hand from a mist of ruins.

"Get them!" Salamander ordered.

Harry took a stance, drawing his foot back then pressed two fingers against his blade.

"Lightning Strike!" Harry shouted, a green-white circle appeared under his feet as electricity crackled along the blade then shot out at the attackers.

He quickly began using his sword to knock some of the out with the blunt side of the blade. Natsu attacked them with fists full of fire.

A fire mage, Harry thought, it seemed suitable for Natsu somehow…even though he was completely different from Syaoran who seemed to also have a thing for fire.

That was went the boat began to rock. Harry let his blade vanish in a twist of word magic worried he'd end up hurting someone too badly on accident from the sudden torrent. Then the ship began to creak, then rise in the air.

"What's happening!?" Natsu cried out. They were both suddenly tossed around as though they were in the midst of a whirl pool.

The spun around and around, and Harry felt himself being tossed every which way.

The ship seemed to break apart and sputter, the roof was torn off as they finally came to a sudden, skidding halt.

"Looks like…" Natsu grinned, "The ship stopped moving."

"Goody." Harry said rolling his eyes, he re-summoned his sword in hand, "Obey they command. Fire gods come forth!"  
His sword alit with fire and he took a stance.

Natsu grinned, then slammed one of the lackeys out of the way.

"Natsu! Harry!"

Harry turned his head to see Lucy who was looking at them both with awe.

The only one left was Salamander now who looked horribly panicked.

"Purple flames!" he shouted, shooting purple fire at the two of them.

Harry promptly dodged to the side, but allowed Natsu to take control. The pink haired boy was hit, but Harry didn't think he was hurt somehow.

"Ew, those taste nasty. Are you sure you're a fire wizard?"

Salamander's face was immediately wiped of the smirk he'd carried once he'd hit him.

"W-What?"

All the flames swirled around, only to be sucked into Natsu's mouth. Natsu calmly wiped his mouth.

"Thanks for the grub, punk."

"Impossible!" Salamander shouted, then began going into a panic, tossing his magic around everywhere.

Harry dodged and deflected a few shots of fire with his sword. His sword could absorb fire when it was lit on fire thanks to the ruins he'd written up.

Then Natsu punched the guy,

"Fire dragon…Iron fist!" she shouted, sending the guy across town and into the bell tower.

Harry paled when he finally noticed the destruction they'd unleashed on the town.

"Shit." He cursed, "Natsu, you overdid it!"

Natsu just looked around and shrugged,

"It's not that bad."

Harry shot him a strange look. How was it not that bad? What was this guy's definition of bad if this wasn't it?

He heard the angry towns people before he saw them.

"Oh crap." Natsu said, then jumped down onto the peer and grabbed Lucy's hand, "Run!"

"R-run?" Lucy asked.

"Well," Natsu said, "You said you wanted to join Fairy Tail, right?"

Lucy looked surprised.

"You too, Harry. Let's go!"  
Harry jumped down off the wreckage a grin on his face.

"Sounds fun…but I'm not taking any responsibility for this mess, Natsu."

Natsu just waved it off as Harry vanished his sword in a flurry of letter magic, then ran, trying to keep up with them. It was clear to Harry that he still had a long way to go in terms of physical fitness. He just hoped he would be able to keep up.


	8. Chapter 8

**Another Chapter has gone by…and I still don't own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail, The Cat Returns or the Tsubasa Chronicles…How sad.**

"We're back!" Natsu shouted like a demon as he kicked open the doors to the guild.

It was a big castle-like structure, not as classic as Hogwarts. It had a homey sort of feel to it though. The noise hit him right away when the doors swung open. The sound of laughter and people talking pleasantly.

"Natsu, Happy, welcome back." A girl with silver hair parted in the same way as Lucy's was, a side pony tail that only held back her bangs, greeted them.

Harry wondered a bit at the style of clothing and fashion in Fiore. It was different to say the least.

Suddenly, Natsu flung himself at a man with black hair and buck teeth, hitting him in the face with his foot.

Lucy gapped at the scene but Harry barely blinked, he'd learned by now just to accept things as they come.

"Bastard!" he shouted, "That information you gave me about Salamander was fake!"  
The girl with the silver hair giggled,

"My, now that Natsu's back the place is going to be torn apart."

Harry sweat dropped at that comment.

"The place is already being torn apart!" A man with curly orange hair shouted.

Natsu's victim was barreled into another Fairy Tail member, and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to start fighting.

"Wow…" Lucy said with awe, "I actually came to Fairy Tail…"

"Hey! Did you say Natsu's back!" A guy with black hair shouted getting up from his seat. He was dressed in nothing but his underwear.

Harry turned to Lucy,

"Is it customary for people here to walk around in their underwear?" he asked the blond.

"N-no…" Lucy said looking a little rattled by the nearly naked guy's sudden appearance.

"Grey, your clothes!" A woman with brown hair interjected, she wore very little as well, pants and a turquoise bra.

"Aw crap!" he swore looking around for his clothes.

"How can someone be unaware that they've lost their clothes?" Harry wondered out loud.

The girl with the brown hair sighed,

"This is why I don't date any of the guys here, so undignified." She said, then grabbed a giant barrel of beer and began chugging it all right there and then.

Harry blinked a few times, wondering if he ought to point out the hypocrisy. But decided against it.

"How unsightly," A big man with silver hair said approaching from behind, "If you're a real man, you'll fight with your fists!"

He went to join the brawl, only to be knocked out by Natsu and Grey who promptly told him to shut up.

"It's so noisy here." Harry turned once again to see a man with orange hair and dark shades sitting on a bench, two pretty girls on his lap.

A plate hit him in the forehead and the girls let out a small scream. But the guy quickly got back up.

"I'm going to go fight now, ladies." He said.

"Good luck, Loki." They said flirtatiously.

Too bad he was knocked out almost as soon as he entered the brawl too.

"It happens all the time, don't worry." The girl with the silver hair said with an airy smile on her face.

"M-Mirajane!" Lucy gasped, and Harry could see a bit of awe in her eyes…at least until Mirajane was hit by the same man with white hair.

"Besides…isn't it fun this way?" then she passed out.

Harry had to blink a few times to process that. Then shook his head. It was official. Everyone in this anime world was crazy…and he must be crazy too for sticking around for so long.

Then Grey landed in front of Lucy…Harry saw Natsu laughing, underwear spinning around his finger. Grey was now completely naked and Lucy let out a scream.

Harry sighed, then opened up his bag and pulled out a pair of pants.

"Here." He said handing them to Grey.

Grey looked up at Harry, astounded.

"Aw, don't help him, Harry!" Natsu huffed.

"Natsu, I think it's weird you stole this guy's underwear." Harry smiled looking a bit mischievous, "It's almost like you wanted to see him naked."

Natsu paled, then turned green. Grey looked just as sick.

"Hell no!" Both shouted at once.

"Then it's in your best interest to return his underwear, wouldn't you say?" Harry asked him innocently.

Natsu through the underwear at Grey like it burned...er, not that he'd be able to get burned anyways…

Grey quickly put his underwear back on, then took the pants from Harry.

"I saw what you did there." He said, "Thanks."

Harry shrugged, but didn't say anything more.

"Ah, so noisy." The woman who had been chugging down a barrel of beer took out a card and a magic circle appeared. Other people joined in, readying their magic.

Harry froze, they weren't actually going to…

"That's enough!" a voice boomed.

Harry froze and looked up to see a giant, now occupied the room.

"Oh, master." The silver haired girl, Mirajane smiled pleasantly, "I didn't know you were here."

"M-m-master?" Lucy stuttered out.

Harry didn't even make a move to do anything. He doubted the man was going to attack him. It wasn't like he had any reason to be angry with him after all.

Everyone seemed to stop fighting and the atmosphere seemed to sober…er, well, not of alcohol.

The giant then turned to Harry and Lucy.

"Hm?" he asked, "And what have we here? New recruits?"

Then the giant seemed to shrink down until…he became a tiny old man. He wore a strange hat that pointed out in two cones. His hand was held out to the two of them.

"Nice to meet you." He said, and Harry realized it was more a salute.

"It's very nice to meet you too." Harry smiled slightly.

He gave a nod in Harry's direction, then gave a back flip up and up. But seemed to misjudge and hit the railing as he bounced to the second floor. That was when Harry noticed the rolled up papers in his hand.

He cleared his throat,

"You've done it again, you fools!" he shouted, "Just look at all these documents I received from the council." He shook a little then lifted his head, "But I say, to hell with the council." The papers all burst into flames and he threw them away.

Natsu leaped into the air and began to eat it.

"Listen up!" the guild master barked, "The power to overcome reasoning is born from reasoning. Magic is not a miracle. When the 'spirit' flow within us and the 'spirit' flow in nature connects, they will form an embodiment for the first time. You will need a strong mentality and a lot of concentration for that. I mean, pouring your soul into whatever it is you do is that magic. If you keep worrying about the watchful eyes of the higher ups your magic will never improve. Do not fear the fools of the council!" he grinned.

And Harry had to admit, it was a very impressive speech.

"Do whatever you think is right!" he shouted, raising his index finger into their air and showing the back of his hand, "That's the way of the Fairy Tail mages!"

Everyone cheered, well inspired. Harry's face twisted into a smile. That had been much better than 'Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak,' he thought to himself.

The master came down from his spot on the second floor and approached Harry and Lucy.

"So, new recruits, I'm the master of this guild, you can call me Makarov." He introduced, "What sort of magic do you practice?"

Lucy smiled,  
"I'm a celestial wizard. I've got a couple of zodiac keys and a few silver ones already. I'm not particularly strong yet, but I want to get better."

The guild master nodded, then looked at Harry.

"I practice Celes word magic and Celes swords magic."

The guild master raised an eyebrow, appearing intrigued,

"Do you mind giving a small demonstration of that?"

Harry nodded, then called his sword into his hand, it appeared in a swirl of words. The man's eyes widened,

"I've never seen magic like that before."  
Suddenly everyone stopped to look at Harry who shifted a bit, uncomfortably.

"I came from an isolated society." He admitted, "We didn't want to be in contact with the rest of the world so…I guess we developed our own forms of magic…I left a little over a year ago to learn more about magic." His face turned into a smile, "I'm also pretty good at some first aid magic as well…I have a tendency to experiment with potions…they do blow up a lot, but when they don't that usually means I've managed to create something awesome."  
"It's true!" Natsu chimed in, "He created a potion that cured my motion sickness!"  
"Temporarily." Harry added in, "I have maybe two more vials of that, but I'll have to make more if Natsu's going to be using them all the time."  
The master looked Harry over curiously,

"You really created a motion sickness potion?"

Harry grinned,

"I'd be happy to supply you my potions free of charge whenever I make them…Which reminds me, I'm going to have to find some books on the plant life in Fiore and some of the creatures too…"  
The guild master grinned,

"Well, if you do that it would definitely save on medical expenses. Welcome to the guild."  
Harry smiled widely and Natsu cheered,

"Woo hoo! I won't ever be motion sick again!"  
"If I can find all the ingredients I need for a motion sickness potion." Harry added in, before he had been experimenting with non-magical plants and animals to see if he could get the same potions or effects as the other potions he'd made back at Hogwarts. He'd gotten nearly all the fourth year level potions he could remember and a bit extra, he turned back to Master Makarov,

"Do you have a room where you keep your medical supplies?"

"Of course, but why don't you get stamped first." Makarov suggested, "Make it official."

Mirajane was already preparing a stamp and Lucy had her hand held out. She approached Harry after she'd placed the Fairy Tail insignia on Lucy's hand.

"Where would you like it?" she asked him with a kind smile.

Harry thought about this,

"Maybe on my arm?" he suggested, he was wearing a T-shirt now, "Can you make it black?"

"Sure thing." Mirajane said, then pressed the stamp down on his arm, just bellow his shoulder.

Harry smiled politely,

"Thank you."

"Natsu, Natsu!" Lucy shouted, running over to the pink haired wonder, "Look, I got the guild mark."  
"Uh huh…that's great Luigi."

Harry shook his head, so it wasn't just him…

"You wanted to take a look at our healing facilities?" Makarov said cutting through Harry's thoughts, "If you would allow me." Harry nodded. Makarov led Harry down a hallway near the back of the room.

"I'm probably going to have to label all my potions…I don't want someone taking skele-gro instead of a headache relieving potion." Harry said.

"Skele-gro?" Makarov asked curiously.

"A potion used to grow back bones." Harry grimaced, "I've used it once. It only takes a night but it's uncomfortable and kind of painful. Of course, that was an extreme case. It can be used to simply fix a broken arm, but you'd need to take a much smaller amount and that depends on the break."

"You sound like a professional." Makarov commented.

"I do have a lot of experience with it." Harry admitted dryly, "That's why I always carry it around with me now. Well, I carry all my things around with me. See this bag?" he asked.

Makarov nodded,

"It doesn't look like it has all your things in it."

"That's because I modified it a bit." Harry explained, "The inside is much…larger than the outside. Very helpful for traveling. My previous teacher used to joke that I had an entire lab in my bag."

Makarov smiled slightly at that,

"You like working with healing magics?"

Harry paused, thinking about this a bit,

"I suppose I do…It's more the experimental part I enjoy though. I like coming up with new ideas, not just for medicine either." Harry added in, "I've got a few exploding potions, some smoke potions, and bottled light."

"Bottled light?" Makarov questioned.

"You throw it and it creates a big flash of light that will blind anyone who doesn't have their eyes covered." Harry explained, "It was my teacher's idea, he helped me work it out actually."

"Sounds like a good idea." Makarov rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then opened up a door which led to a small medical wing with four beds, each divided up by a curtain.

Harry began taking a look around, curiously. He grinned once he reached the potions cabinet and looked through their supplies. They had some compresses, some pain relievers…but otherwise that was about it. Harry looked through it once again.

"We don't have much here." Makarov admitted, "We normally go to the hospitals and such when we need to, or to a healer friend of mine."  
Harry nodded, then set his bag down on one of the beds. He began taking out his potions and medical supplies, and there was a lot!

Makarov looked at the set out vials curiously. Harry took out a sharpie marker and started writing some labels on them.  
"You sure have a lot." Makarov said, impressed.

Harry shrugged,

"When I travel I never know when I'll have the time to actually brew more. So I keep myself well stalked. I'll keep some stuff with me in case anything happens, but I don't think I need to carry all of it." He reasoned, "Would you like to help me stalk some of your cabinets?"

"Certainly." Makarov nodded, actually rather happy that they had someone proficient in healing at the guild. Goodness knows the guild had far too many medical expenses as is!

He took a vial and looked it over,

"Blood-replenishing potion?" Makarov asked.

"Again," Harry said, "The amount you need to take depends on how much blood you've lost. I'd rather be here to administer it if there is someone in need of it."

Makarov nodded,

"I'll get you if we ever have someone badly hurt."

Harry gave a small nod, labeling another potion.

"Why aren't your potions labeled to begin with?" Makarov asked curiously.

"I can tell what it is by looking at it. The color, texture…all of it is familiar to me." Harry explained.

The master looked over the vials curiously. There was a lot there, burn-heal paste (That would come in handy), Cough potion, Calming Draught…

"Why are all these potions over here?" Makarov asked when he realized Harry was separating the potions into two sections.

"These potions are the ones I don't mind being available to the rest of the guild." Harry explained, "Calming draught helps people in shock, and just generally calms people down. Just one sip is all you need. Things like bruise balm and burn paste just need to be spread over the wound. I can't see how anyone can mess that up…" Harry trailed off, "Actually, scratch that. Natsu actually wanted to eat my smelling salts." He frowned, "How does that even work? It's not like they smell all that good!"

Makarov sweat dropped,

"Er, that's Natsu for you." He shook his head.

Harry snickered, "Remind me to make some Fire protection potion later."  
Makarov laughed outright at this,

"You're a good kid." He shook his head.

After Harry finished labeling all his potions, about two hours later, he began organizing the cupboards. This took about twenty minutes. Then he went back into the guild hall and noticed the job board.

He looked over the jobs and took one off the wall, some of the stuff looked really easy. And some of it looked difficult.

"Hey." Grey said approaching him, at least he was wearing clothes.

"Hey." Harry greeted.

"Natsu and Lucy just ran out of here." He said.

"They did?" Harry raised an eyebrow, "Uh, I guess Natsu didn't want his motion sickness potions."

"He forgot something that important?" Grey asked, then let out a sigh, "That idiot…You thinking about taking a job?"  
Harry looked over the board,

"I am. I don't have any money at the moment…well, I have like, twelve thousand jewels, so enough for a meal or two. I really need to do something though…"

"I see." Grey said, "In that case, do you want to come on a job with me?"

"What job is it?" Harry asked curiously.

Grey held out the flier so that Harry could see. He took it and read it over.

"That's quite a bit of money." Harry noted, "Over two million?"

Grey nodded,

"I don't always take the highest paying jobs, but this one seemed pretty interesting."  
Harry nodded,

"Catching a gang of bank robbers. Alright, when do you want to leave?"

"I was going to head out right away." Grey said, "But I'll give you some time to pack."  
"I've got everything." Harry shrugged, "All my things are in my bag. There's an expansion charm on it, so it's bigger on the inside than on the outside."

"That's pretty useful." Grey said looking at Harry's bag that was slung over his shoulder in appreciation.

"I can make one for you if you want." Harry offered, "Just give me a bag and I'll put the appropriate spells on it."

"Really? You'd do that?" he asked.

"Sure." Harry shrugged, "It's pretty simple, or maybe I'm just used to that sort of spell work."

"Alright, let's go." Grey said, he turned and walked towards the door, picking up a light backpack from the table he'd been sitting at earlier as they went.

Harry didn't really know Grey, having just met him. But he seemed like a nice guy. He got the feeling that Grey had offered to take the job with him so that he could keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't biting off more than he could chew. Harry could sort of appreciate that.

First they had to buy train tickets. As Harry discovered, the guild jobs at Fairy Tail were not limited to just the city their guild was situated.

The mission took place farther north in a town in the mountains.


	9. Chapter 9

**I don't own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail, Tsubasa Chronicles, The Cat Returns or anything!  
Save for Animetopoeia. There must be a goddess of anime out there! There must be…**

Harry was sitting on the train in a compartment with Grey. Grey was…quiet, only speaking when he felt it necessary, but he didn't burn or have the same fire in him that Syaoran had. He was more…cold somehow.

"So…" Harry trailed off, deciding to start a conversation, "What type of magic do you practice? You already saw my demonstration back at the guild…"

"Ice make." Grey said, he then placed his palm out face up and rested his fist on top.

His hand seemed to steam, then when he removed his fist, there was a small fairy tail logo made out of ice that fell back onto his palm when it couldn't stand up.

"Wow." Harry said, "That's really cool. I've never actually met an ice mage before." He admitted.

Grey smiled a bit at this, and Harry felt himself throw an internal victory party at getting his expression to change, even slightly.

"So, you gonna tell me a bit more about the job? I only read the overview." Harry added.

"A gang of four thieves." Grey said, "All of them are magic users. It might take a little while to catch them. But they always go after the same four banks."  
Harry frowned,

"Four bank robbers robbing four different banks?" he repeated.

Grey nodded,

"Yeah, it does sound strange." He agreed, "I was thinking we might be doing a stakeout."

Harry nodded, his head turning to look out the window,

"I don't know a lot about Fiore, so if I do or say something weird…please tell me." Harry said.

"Why did you come to Fiore anyways?" Grey asked curiously.

Harry let out a sigh,

"It's kind of a long story…I guess I can tell you though." Harry said, he could trust Grey, probably… "My parents died when I was one. I was told that they died in a car crash. When I was eleven I found out my relatives had been lying to me about how they died." Harry took in a breath, "They were murdered. When I found out they were both wizards, I wanted to study magic too, you know?" he shrugged, "I used to perform magic on accident when I was little, it bothered my relatives to no end."

"What happened to the killer?" Grey asked trying to sound casual.

"He's still out there." Harry admitted, "He tried killing me about three other times after my parents…but I haven't been done in yet. And if he comes back, I'll be ready." He said determinedly.

Grey raised an eyebrow at this,

"You think he'll come after you again? You should probably tell Makarov."

"No." Harry shook his head, "He won't come after me in Fiore. He can't leave…where I'm from. I promised myself I'd study magic so that no one else needed to die."  
Grey raised an eyebrow,

"I get the feeling you're holding back." He said, "But I won't ask if you don't want to tell me."

"Thanks." Harry said genuinely, liking that particular approach far more than Hermione's 'just keep asking questions until the other person breaks.'

"My parents were killed when I was six by a demon." Grey said coolly, "I trained in magic to get my revenge." He shot Harry a look, "You seem to be training for something different though. I think I can appreciate that."  
Harry felt a bit confused by what Grey said, but it seemed to be a compliment.

It was dark out when Harry and grey got off at a station right before the mountains. There weren't any towns nearby, though there was a sort of shelter people could go to rest and get a ride.

"We can camp out." Harry suggested.

"I didn't bring a tent." Grey raised an eyebrow as though he wasn't trying to contradict him.

Harry grinned, then began pulling a tent out of his bag, he started setting it up, until a small, simple looking raggedy tent was built. It didn't look large enough to cover one person let alone two.  
"Uh…Harry?" Grey frowned.

"Go inside." Harry said grinning mischievously.

"It looks like the wind will just blow it over." Grey pointed out.

Harry rolled his eyes, then stepped inside the tent, and Grey was confused when he couldn't see even a hint of Harry being inside.

Curiously, he pulled aside the tent opening and his mouth fell open slightly. It was huge! There was a living room, and a hallway…furniture too. Grey made a mental note to bring Harry on more missions with him. He could definitely get used to this.

"Ta da!" Harry said, standing in the kitchen, "Remember how I told you that my bag was bigger on the inside?"

"And here you had me all worried that you didn't have a place to stay." Grey snorted.

Harry shrugged his shoulders,

"I told you, I like to experiment. It's a simple layout. The place has two rooms…I couldn't figure out a way to make a bathroom though." Harry frowned, "Not yet…but I will. Kitchen's over there, no running water though, I'm afraid." He added, "But I have some water bottles in my bag."  
"Man, this is much better than my idea." Grey said looking around, "You got anything else in that bag of yours that might be useful?"

"Some herbs, a few medical potions, four books, all my clothes, some paper and pens…A bit of money and some identification papers." Harry listed, "That's everything I own…you know besides the furniture in here." Harry gestured around, "All of which I made. What can I say, poverties been good to me."

Grey snorted,

"So, which bedroom can I take?"

"Mine's the one down the hall on the right, you can take the one on the left." Harry said absently, taking some things out of the fridge and heating them up. He decided he'd make some fish and vegetables. It was simple enough.

The next day, Harry made breakfast, then packed up the tent. They made their way into town and began their investigation.

After making their way into town by carriage and beginning their investigations at the banks, it was two days before they actually managed to find their first lead.

"Alright," Grey said, "I don't see any pattern as to which museum is struck, but it seems that the museums are robbed no more than two weeks apart."

Harry looked over the notes of what they know,

"They've done it fifteen times already." Harry said under his breath.

Harry found that he was actually enjoying Grey's presence, they got along pretty well and he was happy, after a few days to consider him a friend.

His mind wandered back to Ron and Hermione, pondering the differences between his friendship with them and his friendship with Grey, or even Natsu and Lucy. He felt…lighter somehow around the members of Fairy Tail. He trusted them completely and he knew, with certainty that they would never do anything to purposefully hurt him.

With Ron though…he was a jealous prat. There were no other words to describe it. He still felt a little sore over the fact that his supposed best friend had betrayed him during the Triwizard Tournament. And he always did that too now that Harry thought about it. He acted like he was entitled to everything and turned into a jerk whenever Harry made any indication that he had money or offered to buy something.

Hermione acted like Harry was dumb and often put him down. And when Harry did do better than her on a test or something she'd accuse him of cheating!

It wasn't fair…

It had been over a year though since Harry had seen them. He knew that once he got back to his world that no time will have passed…but he was changing. At first it was with the way Fay, Kurogone and Syaoran had treated him. They had been nice.

Then the way the Baron had treated him, he helped Harry, telling him that he should aim to be the best person he could be. And now that he was a member of Fairy Tail, it was like he'd suddenly realized…it wasn't right to treat friends like that at all.

There was love there. Not romantic love, but a different sort of love. A silent promise to always be there when the other person was needed, to support each other and laugh…

And he'd only met Natsu and Lucy barely a week ago.

It was East End Bank that was struck that night. They set up a trap, Grey held an walky-talky in his hand. The banks each had them hidden under their counters and when the robbers came in, they could hear it.

Harry then used his word magic to transport them to the front entrance of the bank. They were standing on top of a hill where he could see each location originally.

Grey took down the majority of them, and Harry was in complete awe. He'd only managed to take out one and he'd had some trouble with that.

But, as promised, Grey still split the reward with him.

"I noticed you're pretty strong with your magic." He said when they were walking through the forest, "But you need to work on your physical training a bit more."  
"I know." Harry agreed, brushing a tree branch aside.

He definitely had enough money now to put a down payment on an apartment…

"To be honest with you, I was hoping to find someone who was willing to spar with me at the guild." He admitted, "So far I've been winning fights mostly through luck…You wouldn't by chance know anyone who might be able to help me with my sword fighting and hand to hand would you?"

Grey paled,

"Oh crap, I forgot!"

"What is it?" Harry asked, a bit alarmed by the sudden change.

"Erza." Grey said, "I forgot, but I heard Loki say she was coming back…" He bit the nail of his thumb, looking like he was deep in thought.

"Who's Erza?" Harry asked Grey who shivered.

"She's a monster. Trust me. Probably one of the strongest mages at Fairy Tail. And I'm not the only one who's scared of her." He said the last part quickly, "Natsu's scared of her too! She beat him up badly."

Harry winced. She did sound pretty scary if she could beat up Natsu. Then he started taking his clothes off…

"I need to use the washroom." Grey said nervously.

"I'll wait over here." Harry said, moving out into a small clearing.

He waited a while, when he heard a rustling in the bushes…then shouting.

"Grey?" he heard a female voice asked.

Harry decided it was about time he find his scantily clad friend, picking up his shirt and the assortment of clothes he found as he went.

"Grey?" He burst into the clearing where Natsu and Grey were fighting each other.

"Harry!" Lucy called, she had been watching the fight awkwardly from the side.

"What's going on?" Harry asked watching as Grey got Natsu into a choke hold.

"Natsu and I were just getting back to the guild. We were on a job." Lucy explained, "What are you doing here?"

"I was on a job with Grey." Harry said, "We were just heading back as well…until Grey stopped to use the washroom. He started stripping again so I thought I'd collect his clothes…" he said looking down at the bundle in his arms.

"Thanks Harry." Grey said, finally breaking apart from Natsu.

"By the way," Harry said, "Natsu left before I could even give him his motion sickness potion…you know I still have two vials left of that stuff, right?"

"Oh yeah!" Natsu exclaimed.

Lucy let out a sigh, then shook her head, then realization seemed to come over her. She turned to Happy,

"Hey, how come you couldn't smell Grey, huh?"

Happy turned away,

"There are some things you don't wanna smell."

"What was that?" Grey growled.

"Oh yeah, then what about Harry?" Lucy smirked, feeling she had gotten him.

Happy shrugged,

"Must have missed him."  
Lucy grumbled something incoherent. The mood began to settle and Grey began putting his clothes back on.

"I was actually hoping to see you guys." Grey admitted, "You guys didn't hear before you left but…Erza's coming back."  
Natsu looked white at this news.

"You mean Erza Scarlet? The strongest female mage in Fairy Tail?" Lucy gasped.

"You've heard of her?" Harry asked the blond curiously, "All I've been able to discern is that everyone's afraid of her. At least that's what Grey says."

Lucy nodded,

"I've heard she's beautiful and strong. That's about it though. There was an article on her a while back in Sorcerer's Weekly. But they've never had any pictures of her…What's she like?" she asked Natsu curiously.

"Scary." The pink haired boy shook.

"You can say that again." Grey mumbled.

"She's a monster." Natsu said.

"Monster?" Lucy asked weakly.

"She could probably take down a mountain with a single kick." Grey added helpfully.

"I think it's more like three mountains." Natsu disagreed.

And with each sentence that came out of their mouths, Lucy seemed to grow more and more scared.

"Don't worry." Harry rolled his eyes, "I doubt she's cruel or anything, otherwise they wouldn't let her into Fairy Tail. You've seen that place, right?"

Lucy looked a bit more reassured by this.

"Don't exaggerate, Natsu." Happy cut in, not at all paying any attention to Harry and Lucy's interaction, "I think it's more like two mountains."

Lucy twitched slightly,

"Uh, guys? I think the fact that she can kick down a mountain at all is scary."

Harry smiled slightly at this, completely unconcerned by the news.

Suddenly, the cliff seemed to blow up with a loud boom! Harry quickly jumped up and cast some letter magic to shield himself and Lucy from the debris as she seemed to be struggling to get out of the way. When the dust cleared, Harry put down the spell.

"Is everyone okay?" Grey asked, though Harry knew it was mostly directed towards Lucy.

"We're fine." Lucy said, "Thanks Harry."  
"No problem." Harry said looking around, "Where's Happy?"

Sure enough, the cheerful blue cat wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Happy!" Natsu called looking around worriedly, sand coming from his mouth from the rubble.

Ew, Harry thought. Grey got up and brushed himself off, while Natsu pressed his nose to the ground and looked about.

"This way." He took off running into the woods.

"Hey, wait! Natsu!" Grey called, but Natsu wasn't paying any attention, "Crap." He cursed, then went running after him.

"Guess we're going." Harry said then followed after them, Lucy by his side, "And what was Natsu doing? Pretending to be a blood hound?"

Lucy giggled,

"It's because he has enhanced senses, at least from what I can understand. I guess it's due to his dragon slayer magic."

Harry hadn't actually known what type of magic Natsu used before. He supposed it made a bit of sense though, he did have a tendency to shout out 'Fire dragon roar' or 'Fire dragon iron fist!'

Harry had to raise his hands to stop the tree branches from hitting him in the face as the foliage got deeper. The trees cleared away suddenly and all four of them were standing over a small cliff.

Natsu and Grey were looking down while Harry heard Happy say something about 'Tasting weird.' Whatever that meant.

"Hey, pal!" Natsu shouted as Lucy and Harry stood beside them, "That's our friend you're roasting!"

Happy's arms and legs were tied to a long stick over what looked like a fire pit.

"Thank goodness!" the blue cat cried (And there were some real tears), "Now I won't have to taste weird!"

Harry face palmed,

"Happy, you're supposed to say 'thank goodness, now I'm saved!' or something like that." He called down to the cat.

Everyone seemed to ignore the statement though.

"You're all wizards, aren't you?" Grey stated, "Which guild are you with?"

There were five of them. Harry observed, a pair of twins with ginger hair (what were the odds?) in long red coats holding identical knives. A man in a purple suit holding a floating orb in his hand with black hair.

A giant chicken? (Now that one was ridiculous). And a short almost goblin like creature with green skin and a hoodie who seemed to be the one in charge.

The goblin-thing smirked,

"I'm not telling." He said, taunting Grey, "Get him!"

The wizards took off at top speed.

"Grey, let's do it." Natsu said.

"Alright, but don't go telling me what to do." Grey sneered, "Harry, try not to use magic."  
Harry nodded, getting into a stance, then jumping down, he got one of the twins, knocking him out with two kicks then a punch to the face.

The goblin punched the ground,

"Sand ball, go!"

The earth rose and swarmed around Natsu in small specks, then encased him as it turned to sand.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted.

"He's fine!" Grey shouted back unconcerned, "Go help Happy."

"Right!" Lucy said, running over to Happy who was shaking like a leaf, not that Harry had much time to notice as the other twin came at Harry with his knife.

Harry grabbed his arm, twisted then tossed him over his shoulder and knocked him out with another swift kick.

"Help! Lucy's gonna eat me!" Happy whined.

"Shut up, cat." Lucy huffed in annoyance.

Grey took out the giant chicken with a swift kick to the chest.

"Next." He said blandly.

The man with the purple orb heled his hands out, the orb hovered in between as he hummed, then…finally,

"You'll see someone special. But the stars' point to great trouble with water and women."

Harry and Grey both shot the man a disbelieving look.

"You're telling my fortune?" shaking himself, Grey elbowed the guy in the face.

Harry laughed a little, wondering if there was any truth behind those words. He always did hate divination…maybe he could switch subjects when he got back…He'd need to study ahead. Maybe he could ask Ana if he could get some books from his world and study a year or two in the Anime world…would that be allowed? He still wasn't entirely sure why he was hopping worlds to begin with…

"They knocked them all out without using magic…" Lucy breathed and Harry smiled slightly at her words, "Wow…put some clothes on!"  
Harry turned his attention back at Grey,  
"How did you…I turned my head for a second!" Harry blinked.

"Crap!" Grey cursed, "I don't know how it happens!" he told Harry.

"Where'd you brats come from anyways?" the goblin asked fearfully.

Boom! The orb of sand surrounding Natsu exploded into flames and the pink haired wonder landed on the ground wiping his mouth.

"Jerk, now I've got a mouth full of sand and it's all because of you." He spat on the ground, trying to get the texture out of his mouth.

He slammed his fists together casting a familiar magic circle.

"Here it goes." Natsu said taking a stance, "Fire dragon iron fist!" he slammed into the goblin causing a huge explosion.

Harry twitched slightly when a giant crater appeared in the ground.

"Idiot." Grey groaned.

"Okay," Harry said, "That may have been a little much."  
Grey snorted as he tossed one of the twins over his shoulder,

"You think?"

Harry saw what he was doing and dragged the other twin over to the big tree with the other, then Grey carried the chicken and Natsu carried the goblin.

With some rope from Natsu's pack, Lucy tied them all to the tree.

"Don't you think you went a little overboard Natsu?" Grey asked looking away from him with his arms crossed.

Natsu took on the same stubborn posture as he responded,

"So what if I did, jerk? I got the job done, right?"  
"Grow up already." Grey turned to glare at him and Harry had a feeling this was the makings of another fight.

That was when he noticed Lucy by the tree. Harry went over to her, ignoring Natsu and Grey as the two went at it. Grey seemed to have lost his clothes again, standing around in his underwear completely oblivious to the fact.

"Lulla…"

"What?" Harry asked and Lucy looked confused.

"What's Lulla?" Lucy wondered.

"Lulla…by…"

Grey and Natsu stopped arguing to look at the goblin.

"Lullaby?" Grey frowned, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Incoming!" Happy shouted, knocking Natsu and Grey out of the way.

Harry lunged for Lucy, pushing her out of the path of the invisible enemy. She let out a small scream but looked up when a big shadow appeared under the tree in the form of a giant hand.

The goblin looked wide awake now, shaking.

The twins grumbled something incoherent, then the tree sank into the ground, bringing the five wizards with it.

Harry let out a small gasp. They were dead, he thought. Someone had silenced them…and that reeked of something sinister.

"What was that?" Lucy asked, getting to her feet.

"Who was that?" Natsu corrected.

"Well whoever it was," Grey said, "They're fast. I can't even sense their presence anymore."

"Sense their presence?" Harry asked, always wanting to learn more things.

"I'll teach you later." Grey promised absently, then smiled slightly, as though having reached a decision, "We can train together too. I'm best at hand to hand, but I'm also a weapons user when the time calls for it. I've trained in several styles."  
A wide grin broke Harry's face. That was perfect!

"Train him?" Natsu frowned, "Why would you need to train him?"

Harry smacked a hand to his face,

"For one, even though I'm pretty strong in my magic, my physical combative skills aren't all that great and could be improved on a lot." He looked down and felt his fists clench, "I really want to get stronger."

Natsu blinked a few times a little surprise, then grinned,

"Then fight some people." He offered.

Harry deadpanned,

"There's a difference between fighting and sparing." Harry said, recalling what Fay had told him, "Sparing is like fighting, I guess, but it's more focused on improving yourself, not just doing what you can to defeat your enemy or opponent."

"Just leave it, Harry." Grey shook his head, "Natsu isn't going to understand."  
"Are you calling me dumb?" Natsu shouted.

Harry groaned, deciding to just start walking,

"I'm going to head back now." He decided, "If it's all the same to you guys."

"Do you know which way you're heading, Harry?" Lucy asked catching up with him while Natsu and Grey stayed behind to argue.

"Just a moment." Harry said, and idea coming to mind. He took out his wand from his back pocket and held it in his hand.

"Point me, Mirajane." He ordered.

The wand swerved slightly to the side and Lucy looked down disbelievingly,

"It figured Natsu and Happy were leading me in the wrong direction…"


	10. Chapter 10

**No, no, no! I own nothing! I don't own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail, The Cat Returns, or the Tsubasa Chronicles.  
Thank you!**

Grey started Harry on some training as soon as they got back. Harry was almost always busy though, being called in whenever someone broke a bone or was really sick. He was getting to know everyone rather well though.

He rented a small place near the market and only a twenty to thirty-minute walk away from the guild. He knew that Fairy Tail offered boarding, but he kind of wanted to see the city.

It was a really nice place, full of colors and older looking buildings that he didn't get to see back at Private Drive. And this world seemed to differ a lot from the previous two he'd visited.

The first world with Syaoran and the others was full of neon lights and had a spunky, modern feel about it. The second one was a lot like back home but with different customs he had to get used to and…well, none of the houses had yards and all the houses had been placed a lot closer together. He had attended high school over there for a year and though he was pretty sure that it was the same curriculum he would get in muggle Japan, he understood what everyone was saying as though it were English…

Fiore seemed a mixture of Celtic themes mixed with Japanese customs and held together with art that seemed to reflect countries from all over _his_ world.

He took a curse breaking job and earned a few quick jewels. It was a local job and Harry was rather surprised that no one had taken it yet.

Through most of the week though, Harry was busy sparing with Grey out in front of the guild, or helping fix broken bones and torn muscles from those that had gotten beaten up pretty badly out on their own jobs.

"Thanks, Harry." Levi, a girl with blue hair held back in an orange headband had said, "I thought I'd be stuck with a broken arm for the rest of the month!"

"No problem." Harry said scanning her over once again with his wand to make sure she had healed properly, "But no heavy lifting for the next three days. I don't want you to agitate the newly healed bone."

"Can do." Levi smiled widely, "By the way, I see you use that a lot." She said looking at the wand, "What is that?"

Harry smiled,

"It's a wand. I got it when I was first learning magic so I could better focus it." Harry explained, "It's a tradition back home. Normally I just use my sword now to fight but this is better for more precise things, like healing."

"I see." Levi said looking at the wand curiously, "So you don't use it as a weapon…but you could."

"I could." Harry agreed, "I mostly just keep it because of it's sentimental value…and as a reminder."

"A reminder?" Levi asked.

Harry let out a sigh, not entirely sure if he should say anything at all…

"My parents were murdered when I was one." Harry said looking down at the wand a little bit sad, "I said it's tradition, where I'm from to get a wand when you turn eleven over there. Well, the man who killed them had one too, this wand's brother."

Levi's eyes widened,

"It's brother?" she whispered.

"Yeah…The core of this wand is actually a feather from a magical creature that is only found back home. This same creature donated one other feather…the core of the wand that was used to kill my parents."

"Then why buy that wand?" Levi asked looking a little startled.

Harry smiled bitterly,

"I didn't choose it. The wands back home…they're somewhat sentient. They choose the wizard, not the other way around. This was the one that chose me, the only one that worked properly for me." He shook his head, "Honestly, I think you might be the only one here I've told about this. But…that's part of the reason I keep it. It's a reminder. I'll need to face that man someday. And I'll need to go back home to do it."

"Thinking about leaving the guild already?" Levi asked jokingly, but there was genuine worry in her tone.

Harry shook his head,

"I think I'll be staying here a while. And even if I do leave, I'll come back. It won't be forever." Harry said rubbing his Fairy Tail mark, "I have other friends I plan on meeting too. But I'll always come back. This place is…amazing!"

Levi smiled genuinely,

"It is, isn't it?"

Harry walked over to one of the tables after he's finished up his talk with Levi and began working on brewing a few potions. He needed to restock on several healing aids. A few guild members had been bringing him back plants for him to work with. A lot of the plant life was unrecognizable in this world and it took Harry a few days to find the plants with the correct properties that he needed.

He got out a book he'd bought on some of the common herbs and began reading through it, writing down notes as he went. Finally, after a few minutes he began preparing his cauldron and pulling out his ingredients. Just before he began he put up some wards around his table just in case people decided to start fighting and throwing things around again (He'd learned his lesson).

After a few minutes he had a fresh batch of skele-gro. He bottled it all up, cleaned out his cauldron and started working on a pain reliever potion when the doors to the guild hall burst open.

A girl with red hair carrying a giant tooth that must have been six times her weight, over her head with a single hand stood in the doorway.

She walked into the center of the guild hall, then set the giant fang down with a dramatic crash! Harry vaguely noticed that it was decorated at the bottom.

A few of the members stepped away, completely terrified. Harry felt a little uneasy himself by her sudden appearance. She had a serious look etched into her features, her eyes were sharp but also calm at the same time. She had beautiful red hair that ran down her shoulders and over her armour.

It was a little weird, Harry thought, wearing armor and then having a skirt beneath that…

"I have returned." She said finally, "Where is Master Makarov?"

Harry noticed Lucy over in the corner by Mirajane, they must have been talking before.

"Wow, she's pretty." Lucy said, at it was true.

She was very pretty, Harry thought.

"Welcome back, Erza." Mirajane smiled as she normally did in greeting, "The master's at a conference right now."

Harry paused over his potion, he hadn't actually realized that Master Makarov was gone…He really did zone out when he worked on potions.

"I see." Erza nodded.

"So um…What's that humongous thing you've got there?" Harry recognized the nervous speaker as Max Alors. He'd treated him a while back for a headache.

"Oh, that's just the horn of a monster I defeated." She said as though she'd nearly forgotten, "The locals were so thankful that they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir. Do you have a problem with it?" she asked the last part sharply causing Max to freeze up.

"No, not at all!" he said raising his hands defensively.

Cana looked at Macao slyly through her gulps of beer from the giant barrel she was chugging from,

"I bet she heard about what happen at Mount Hakabei."  
"Oh man," Macao said, "If she has, I'm a goner."  
"She's not anything like I imagined…" Lucy trailed off, still looking at Erza whose sharp eyes looked over each guild member, sizing them up.

"Now listen up!" she said in a firm tone, "While I was on the road I heard a few things."  
A few of the guild members gulped.

"Word is Fairy Tail is causing nothing but trouble as of late. Master Makarov may not care, but I most certainly do." She turned around to look at Cana who was still chugging from her barrel, "Cana, you need to start controlling your drinking." Then without turning around to look at him she said, "Vjeeter, take the dancing outside. Wakaba, get rid of that filthy habit!"

Wakaba tensed, but didn't take the pipe he was smoking out of his mouth.

"Nab," she turned around, "I suspected I would find you doddering in front of the request board. Just pick a job!" she then looked at Macao, "Macao!" she stared at him a while, but didn't say anything. She closed her eyes then let out a sigh.

"P-please just say something!" Macao panicked.

"I don't even know where to begin with you." She put a hand to her head, "You cause so much trouble I've almost given up."

She was certainly demanding, Harry thought, then just shook his head and returned to his potion, adding in the Fleming weed. He smiled, satisfied when the potion took on the color and texture it was supposed to.

He got out a pen and wrote down in his book of herbs in Fiore a few more things on the plants properties and how it worked in the pain relieving potion as a replacement for the lemon grass.

He began bottling the potion when he paused at the sight of Natsu and Grey draping their arms around each other like best buds…interesting, Harry thought. Then he finished up bottling three vials of potion.

"Oh, hey there, Erza." Grey said but Harry could see him sweating, "We're just hanging out like good friends tend to do."  
Harry shot him an incredulous look. Would Erza really buy that?

"Aye!" Natsu chirped.

And now he was imitating Happy…

"That's great, I'm quite pleased to see the two of you getting along so well." Erza nodded approvingly, "However, it's only natural for even the best of friends to fight every now and again."  
"I don't know if we're the best of friends…" Grey trailed off.

"Aye…" Natsu seemed to sigh out resignedly.

"What's gotten into Natsu?" Lucy squeaked, genuinely disturbed by the behaviour.

Mira explained,

"He's scared, a few years ago Natsu challenged Erza to a fight and she beat him up pretty bad." She'd drawn a diagram of this particular happening with her light pen.

Did she really need to draw that one out? Harry wondered to himself.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Lucy stated bluntly.

"After that she discovered Grey wandering around naked and decided to beat him up too." Macao added in with a fond smile at the memory.

"And lets not forget, she beat up Loki for trying to hit on her." Cana said, hand resting up against her face.  
Harry snickered quietly, he would have paid to see that one.

"He totally deserved it though." Cana shrugged.

"Yeah, can't say I blame her." Lucy said, vaguely sympathizing, or so it seemed.

"Natsu, Grey, I need you to do me a favour." Erza said, on hand resting against her hip as she looked them over carefully.

Natsu and Grey looked surprised, their arms untangling and falling to their sides as they waited for Erza to state her favour.

"While traveling I heard something troubling. Normally I would consult with the master before acting but he's not here, and it's a matter of utmost urgency." She paused, "The two of you are the strongest wizards here, I could really use your help."

Natsu and Grey looked at each other and Harry could guess what was running through their heads. Was it really a good idea to have those two on the same team together?

There were murmurs throughout the crowd.

"Did that just happen?"

"Did Erza really ask them for help?"

Erza's voice broke through the voices though,

"We'll meet at the train station tomorrow morning." She said with finality.

"Erza, Natsu and Grey working together?" Mirajane said in such a quiet voice that Harry barely caught it, "I never saw that one coming." She swallowed hard, "This could be…the most powerful team Fairy Tail's ever seen."

The most powerful team? Harry asked himself. He supposed it would be, but there were other mages in the room that were still more powerful than them…still, with Natsu's 'blow everything up' method, Erza's strict and rather oblivious nature, then with Grey added in…well, there was no way that was going to end without a few villages being wiped off the map.

"Uh, Erza?" Grey said quickly, and he was obviously about to say it wasn't a good idea, but when she looked at him he completely froze up and switched his request.

"C-could Harry come with us?"

Harry blinked, looking up at Grey. Erza turned around to face him, she looked him over, and Harry felt that she was scanning him.

"I haven't seen you before." She stated.

Harry shook his head,

"You wouldn't have. I'm pretty new." He said trying to sound polite, "I specialize in Celest word magic and Celest sword magic."

"And healing, don't forget that." Grey said quickly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Grey, wondering why he wanted him to come so badly.

"Yeah…I'm pretty good with healing magic. I was just brewing some more pain relief potion for the medical wing…"  
"No! Don't take Harry!" Laki cried, "Who's going to help us when we break something?"

Erza raised an eyebrow at this and looked at Harry for answers.

"My magic is very useful when it comes to fixing broken things. There's always a lot of damage after fights and stuff…"

"Really?" Erza blinked, "That seems very useful, and you have training as a healer?"

"Mostly in quick first aid, but I do know how to set broken bones and I can usually heal them before the day is up." He added.

"That doesn't seem particularly combative, though it is very useful…"  
"Harry can fight too." Grey said quickly, "He's probably better than Natsu at hand to hand, well, maybe not quite as good but his level of magic makes up for that, and his weapons ability is nearly good, if not just as good as my own."  
Erza raised an eyebrow, then looked Harry over once again.

"I suppose he would be a very good ally. He can come."

Harry had a feeling he wasn't going to be getting paid for this…Well, it didn't really matter. He already had all he needed for at least a month, maybe two if he cut back a bit on going out for fast food.

"You should bring Lucy along as well." Mira added in helpfully, "What? Why me?" Lucy groaned.

"She beat up a Volcain with just her pinky finger. And blew up a mansion."  
Harry shot Lucy a strange look. The blond met his eyes and shrugged, it seemed apparent that she had no idea where those rumors came from.

"No." Erza shook her head, "Even though that is very impressive, I think we have more than enough people to pull this mission off."

Lucy let out a small sigh of relief.

"Alright." Harry said, "I'll make some more pain-reliever potions and paste. You guys should be able to survive with that until then. Oh…" he smiled slightly tilting his head to the side and a few of the guild members shivered, Erza's eyebrows met her hairline, "If I find that one of you tried to open up the locked cupboard where I keep all the heavy duty potions…I'll be very upset, okay?"

There were a few quick nods, while some people murmured amongst themselves.

"What was that?" someone whispered.

"Who knew Harry could be so scary?"

Harry just blinked a few times, wondering why they thought he was scary. He shrugged it off filled his bag with the potions and moved down the hall to restock the medicine cabinet.

The next morning, Harry slipped on a dark t-shirt with a red, gothic pattern over top, black leather gloves and black jeans with combat boots. He took the bus down to the station and bought his ticket. When he entered the platform he saw Grey and Natsu already there. Natsu let out a loud moan,

"I hate this, teaming up with you was the worst idea ever!"

"Yeah, tell me about it." Grey shot back, "Erza made a huge mistake asking a looser like you to come along."

People were staring at the two of them as they went at it.

"You know, you two could at least try to get along for the remainder of this journey." Harry sighed, wondering how he was ever going to deal with the headache these two were going to no doubt give him if they kept up their stupid rivalry.

"That's not going to work." Happy said from his spot beside him on the train station bench.

Harry sighed,

"I suppose I'll just have to withhold Natsu's motion sickness potion then if they can't stop arguing…"  
Happy paled,

"You wouldn't actually…do that…would you?"

Harry shrugged,

"I only brought one headache relief potion and I don't want to have to start the trip wasting it."

"T-that's cold." Happy shivered.

"Sorry I'm late, did I keep you waiting long?"

Natsu and Grey immediately put their arms around each other like old buddies while Harry's eyes widened at all the luggage Erza had with her. There were at least thirty bags all stacked up on a big wooden wagon the red head dragged behind her.

"Whoa, look at that luggage!" Happy exclaimed, summing up Harry's thoughts exactly.

"It's time to go, good buddy!" Grey said in a way too cheery voice.

"Aye!" Natsu chirped.

"Natsu, one Happy's enough!" Harry rolled his eyes, though he did find it to be a little bit amusing.

"So, I'm Erza." Erza said walking up to Harry, "I've heard a lot about you. You've been taking a lot of curse breaking jobs?"

"Yes." Harry agreed, "I've been studying Fiore's ruins lately. I already know a different array of ruins from Celes, but I thought the curse breaking jobs would help me learn the ruin system here faster. I've got to say I was rather surprised by the different patterns…"  
"I take it you're not from around here." Erza observed, "You have a bit of an accent."

"Yeah, you caught me." Harry said good naturedly, "I only came to Fiore about…well, it's only been a couple of weeks now. Strange, it almost seems like it's been longer. Even though I specialize in combative magic, I've studied healing spells and potions, mostly just first aid stuff."

"It seems you've become Fairy Tail's personal healer." Erza smirked, "They were all really sad to see you go."  
Harry chuckled a bit at that,

"Yeah, they can't seem to go a day without someone breaking an arm or nose. I've been looking in the library a lot too and buying books of my own on the potions and herbs of Fiore. Even though I've been at Fairy Tail only a couple of weeks I feel like I've gotten a lot better in almost every magical area I've studied."  
"That's good." Erza nodded with approval, "If more people applied themselves as you do our guild would be a lot stronger."

"I don't know about that." Harry said hesitantly, "Everyone there has helped me in some way. I love Fairy Tail, it's so bright and alive."  
Erza smiled and Harry knew then, that for all her criticisms, she loved it too, with all her heart.

"Erza!" Natsu said, causing the red head to turn around, "I'll go with you on one condition."  
"What are you doing, you idiot!" Grey babbled, freaking out.

"Oh?" Erza asked, "Well then let's hear it."  
"Kay." Natsu said determinedly, "I want a rematch when we get back to Fairy Tail."

Grey placed a hand on his shoulder,

"What's wrong with you, you have some sort of death wish?"

But Natsu ignored him,

"I'm a lot stronger than I was last time." Natsu grinned, revealing sharp teeth, "This time will be way different, 'cause I'm gonna beat you."

Erza tilted her head down wards, shading her face.

"Yes, I can tell you've improved…as to whether or not you can beat me…I suppose we'll have to see. I accept your challenge."  
Fire gathered around Natsu's feat as he clenched his fists.

"Oh yeah! I'm fired up!" he shouted, once again causing several people at the station to look at him strange.

"Oh, actually, Erza?" Harry said.

"Yes?" she asked looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I was actually wondering if you'd be willing to spar with me. Not a fight, just a spar. I heard that you often used weapons to fight and I'm hoping to improve my style. If you have any pointers…" he trailed off.

Erza hummed thoughtfully while Grey looked at Harry like he was absolutely bonkers.

"I suppose that would be fine. It would have to be after my fight with Natsu. Just a spar though, right?"

"Just a spar." Harry smiled, "I'm not trying to challenge you or anything. I just want to improve."

Erza nodded,

"That's good. Very well then."

Harry said his thanks, then helped Erza load her luggage onto the train.


	11. Chapter 11

**I posted the Dark Animetopoeia! Thought that might be important to note! Thank you for the comments and the encouragement!**

**I do not own Harry Potter, The Cat Returns, Fairy Tail or Tsubasa Chronicles!**

As soon as the train had started moving, Natsu was down. Leaning against the window pathetically as he let out a groan and clutched at his stomach.

"Wow, that was quick." Harry observed, it had started as soon as the train had begun to move.

Grey rolled his eyes and leaned his head up against his hand,

"Natsu's always been like that...wait, didn't you say you had a motion sickness reliever or something?" he looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow.

"That's true." He agreed, but didn't make a move to get it out of his pack, "But I only brought one headache reliever."  
Grey paused, then smiled slightly,

"Yeah, that is a problem."  
"Give him the potion, Harry." Erza said, "If it will really help him."  
Harry let out a sigh,

"Fine…" he rummaged through his bag, trying to find the motion sickness reliever, he uncorked it and promptly opened Natsu's mouth and poured it down his throat.

Natsu blinked a few times, then stood up in his seat hands up in the air balled into fists,

"I'm alive!" he shouted.

Harry face palmed, and Grey rolled his eyes, though managed to look surprised,

"That's one powerful potion. You made that?"

Harry nodded,

"I only have one dose left. They last about two and a half to three hours each. To be honest I'm a little worried about using them all for this train ride, seeing as it might not last the entire trip."  
Natsu was dancing around causing some of the other passengers to look at the group funny.

"Sit down, Natsu." Erza ordered and he sat down immediately.

"I'm going to have to make more of that stuff." Harry murmured, "If any of you come across glowsling plants on your travels, could you collect it for me? I might be able to make the potion more potent with the plant's root."

"Of course." Erza agreed.

"What's glowsling?" Natsu asked clueless.

"It's a plant with dark green leaves that glow when it's dark out." Harry said, "Much like its name implies. You can look it up later if you'd like. Now, before Natsu's potion wears off, why don't you tell us about our mission?" Harry suggested.

"Of course." Erza said and the mood in the compartment grew serious, "I have reason to believe that the dark guild Eisenwald is up to something big. I'm not sure what exactly but it has something to do with a magic item called lullaby."

Harry's eyebrows shot up,

"That's a coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Erza asked, eyes narrowed.

"We met some weaker wizards in the forest not long ago." Grey explained, "Not particularly strong. But one of them said 'Lullaby' before another member assassinated them. The assassin got away."

Erza looked grim,

"I see, so you've run into the Eisenwald guild before."

"Well, I'm not sure about that." Grey said cautiously, "By they did mention something called lullaby."  
Erza nodded,

"Sounds like they were members that dropped out of the guild and went into hiding. Perhaps they wanted no part of whatever it is that's coming."

"So this thing is so bad it even scares dark wizards?" Grey asked.

"I'm only hypothesizing." Erza said, "But whoever you saw dragging Happy off that day must have been from Eisenwald. It's obvious that they didn't want their plans getting out."  
Harry's lips thinned into a line,

"Do you have any idea what they might be going to try?" he asked her.

Erza closed her eyes and tilted her head down,

"Let me start from the beginning." She sighed, "Just the other day I was heading home after completing a job. I stopped by a pub in Organoze that I knew was a gathering place for wizards. There were three wizards talking about something called lullaby. One of them was frustrated that though they had found where lullaby was hidden they couldn't do anything about it because of a seal. His buddies told him to keep it down…probably why I started listening in." Erza smirked, "That's when this other guy, in a white coat and black hair tied up into a pony tail stood up and said, 'don't worry, just tell everyone I'll be coming back in three days.'"

Harry frowned,

"That's not much to go off of." He pointed out.

"I found it disturbing that it was something sealed away. I knew then that it was very powerful magic." Erza said.

"You sure the guys you saw at the pub were with Eisenwald?" Grey asked curiously.

"Yes." Erza said quietly, "I can't believe I was such a fool that day." She leaned forwards, "I didn't recognize his name. Erigor, the ace of Eisenwald. He only accepts assassination requests. Which is why he's earned the name 'Erigor the reaper.'"  
That…didn't sound good, Harry thought.

"When the council outlawed assassination requests, Eisenwald decided that money was more important than the council's rules." Erza continued soberly, "As a result, they were kicked out of their wizard league six years ago. But that didn't stop them." She paused, "They've disobeyed orders and remained active to this day."  
She slammed a fist down on the compartment bench,

"How could I have been so careless?" she scolded herself, "If I had recognised Erigor's name that day I could have pulverized them! I could have forced them to reveal their scheme to me."  
Grey and Natsu turned green, but Harry remained unaffected by Erza's 'should have tortured them' attitude.

"So if I've got this right, Eisenwald wants to do something with this 'lullaby' and you want to stop them. Because after what you overheard, you know it's going to be something bad." Grey summed up.

"That's correct." Erza confirmed, "And I'm not foolish enough to believe that I can take on an entire magical guild by myself. That's why I asked you and Natsu for your help." Her eyes trailed over to Grey, "We're storming the Eisenwald guild."

"Sounds fun to me." Grey smiled.

Harry just shrugged,

"It's not like I have anything better to do." He figured.

"Yeah!" Natsu said, fire coming out of his nostrils, "I'm all fired up!"

About an hour later the train came to it's first stop and the four of them went outside to stretch their legs. Harry bought some sandwiches for everyone from one of the local stands and they all ate in their compartment as the train started moving again.

"If you don't mind me asking," Harry began, "What sort of magic do you use, Erza? Grey tells me it has something to do with swords but I'm afraid he never told me the specifics."

"Erza's magic is really pretty." Happy announced, "She makes people bleed!"  
Harry chuckled, not entirely she he'd classify that as 'pretty.'

"Personally, I think Grey's magic is much more beautiful than mine." Erza brushed off.

Harry thought about what he'd seen of Grey's magic. It was rather artistic in a sense,

"I agree; his magic is quite beautiful." Harry decided.

Grey shrugged, taking the compliment in stride.

The train arrived at Onibas station and by then Natsu's motion sickness potion had long ago worn off.

Harry, Grey, Erza and Happy got off, while Natsu seemed to try and catch his breath before he got up.

"You think the Eisenwald guys are still going to be in this town?" Grey asked skeptically.

"I have no idea, that's what we're here to find out." Erza admitted, pulling her giant wagon of luggage along with her.

Happy sat on one of Erza's bags.

"Hold on, where's Natsu?" Happy asked just as the train began to steam.

"He didn't get off?" Harry deadpanned, making a mental note to give him his next dose of potion closer to the end of the trip next time.

The train began moving down the tracks.

"Uh oh, there he goes…" Happy said looking at the back of the train as it continued on down the line.

Harry face palmed.

"We were so busy talking, I forgot about him." Erza said alertly, "I am such a fool, Natsu hates all forms of transportation. This is all my fault, I need one of you to come and hit me for my penance!"

Harry blinked a few times,

"All things considered all of us should have seen that one coming. I probably should have waited a while longer to give Natsu his potion…plus I'm not really into that sort of thing."

Grey actually snorted,

"So what now?"

Erza rushed down the station into a run.

"Er…what's she going to do?" Harry asked Grey who looked a little uncertain himself.

"We should follow her in case she does something too reckless." He decided and in another split second took off running after her.

Harry just wanted to know how Erza was able to go so fast dragging all that luggage behind her.

Harry finally caught up with the two and found Erza with her hand on a big lever, one of the train station attendance trying to get her to see reason. Fat chance of that happening.

"Lady, what are you doing, you can't just pull the emergency breaks!"

"It's for our comrade, please understand." She said, "Now, I would like you to take our luggage to the hotel."

"Do I look like a bell hop to you?"

Harry let out another sigh, wondering if he ought to just move along and pretend he didn't know her…Grey seemed to be pondering this same line of thought but remained frozen in place…then.

"Grey, your clothes." Harry pointed out dully.

"Oh, crap!" he said, thankfully they hadn't gone too far…

After a lot of arguing, Erza decided to give up and ran away, steeling a magic mobile. A sort of car that ran off of magical energy. Definitely something that Harry figured the wizards back home could use. Harry jumped in the car just in time for Erza to take off, following the tracks, her arm linked up to the car. Grey rode on top, which Harry was pretty sure was against some sort of safety regulation…it seemed Fairy Tail didn't care for such trivial things though.

They'd managed to catch up with the train, which then started moving again.

To Harry's mild shock, Natsu went flying out one of the compartment windows and right into Grey. Harry felt rather happy then that he'd decided to sit inside the car as the two of them went falling onto the ground.

The car screeched to a halt.

"Natsu, are you aright?" Erza asked quickly.

Natsu let out a weak, "Aye." Both him and Grey were on the ground semi-conscious. Harry got out of the car and pulled out his wand, quickly scanning them both over.

"He'll have a small bruise…geez, he's made out of some tough stuff." Harry said shaking his head and putting the wand back into his pocket.

Erza gave a curt nod. Grey and Natsu then slowly got to their feet.

"That hurt, you idiot!" Grey shouted.

"Shut up, you icy freak! And I can't believe you guys left me on the train!" Natsu huffed.

"I'm just thankful you weren't badly injured." She gave a small nod, "I apologize, Natsu." She grabbed his head, and pulled him to her chest. His head made a loud 'thunk' as it hit her armour. Harry winced slightly, and right after he'd hit his head already on the ground…

"It's okay!" Natsu said abruptly, then pulled himself away, "I'm shaken up pretty bad." He admitted, "I was attacked by on of those Eisenwald members. I couldn't do anything though because of…"  
"You fool!" Erza said, slapping him across the face.

Harry let out a sigh,

"Seems Natsu's pretty useless at fighting on anything moving…I wonder if that can be trained out of him…" Harry hummed.

Grey snorted,

"Good luck with that."  
Harry shrugged,

"I personally think the problem is psychological. He eats all that junk food without having any problems with his stomach, but the moment he steps on a train…Or maybe it's because he eats all that junk." Harry thought, "If he improved his diet that might help with his problem."  
Erza seemed to hear this then glared at Natsu,

"Natsu, from this point on, you're going to eat healthy foods. No more junk!"

"W-what!?" he cried.

"Well, Harry is our expert." Erza said, "And I don't want this to keep happening. You let information get away!" she let out a sigh.

"I'm not saying it will work." Harry added "But that might be the problem. I'd have to give Natsu a deeper medical scan. Motion sickness occurs when the movement we perceive is in disagreement with the vestibular sense of movement." He explained putting a hand to his chin and trying to think through the whole thing logically, "But when you don't have a potion, Natsu. You might want to try just closing your eyes, or gazing out at the horizon. These methods generally help to orientate the sense of balance and sight. If that doesn't work, then chewing gum can help too."

Natsu blinked a few times,

"I didn't know that." He said, "So I don't need to change my diet?"

"You still should." Harry sighed, "These are just methods that might aid you. A healthier diet might lead to a more permanent solution."

"Which is why, starting now, you will be eating only healthy foods." Erza nodded as though making up her mind, she got up onto the magic vehicle and attacked her arm to the power cord. The car began to hum.

"So what was this guy like?" Grey asked Natsu, trying to get them back on subject.

Natsu crossed his arms and looked up thoughtfully,

"He didn't look like someone from a dark guild. He did have this strange flute thing." He recalled, "It looked like a skull, except it had three eyes."  
"You sure?" Harry frowned, thinking on this hard, he could vaguely remember reading something about that.

"Does that mean something to you?" Happy asked curiously.

"It might…" Harry said, "In my country we have these three spells that are so horrible that they've been given the title 'the three unforgivable.' I did some research a while back on magic that might be similar to them."  
"I don't like where this is going." Grey grimaced.

Harry bit his lower lip, eyes focused on the ground,

"I remember…there was some sort of demon flute I read about…It's death magic. Apparently, it was strong before but then a dark wizard named 'Zeref'…sorry, I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right." Harry admitted, "But this wizard imprisoned some sort of demon inside it in order to kill a bunch of people all at once."

"You're sure?" Erza pressed.

Harry nodded,

"If it's what I think it is, then yes…"

"Get on." Erza ordered, "We need to go now."

Harry didn't need to be told twice. He got into the car and Grey got on top again, Natsu in the seat next to him. Erza took off.

Harry actually flew out of his seat a few times as they sped over the bumpy roads.

"Slow down, Erza!" Grey said frantically, "You're using up too much of your power driving this thing!"  
Natsu looked dead in the seat next to Harry.

Harry sighed and shook his head,

"Look out at the horizon." Harry ordered, "And I mean straight ahead. It will help."  
Natsu dully looked up…it didn't really seem to help though and Harry had to admit, most people probably would get motion sickness from the way Erza was driving.

"I have no choice but to press onwards!" Erza said, determination lacing he words, "We're running out of time. If Erigor gets his hands on this death magic, trust me. Lives will be lost."

Harry couldn't imagine what Eisenwald would want with a flute that could kill all those that heard it, but he knew it couldn't be good. Obviously, they wanted someone, or a large group of people, rather, to die.


	12. Chapter 12

**I want to post the end of the Fairy Tail arc today at least!**

**Once again, I do not own Harry Potter, or Fairy Tail.**

Erza stopped the vehicle over a cliff with a train station down below, Kunugi station. From the murmurs below, Harry guessed that Eisenwald had taken over the train after it had come to a stop.

"Some sort of ambush." Harry frowned, "But why hijack a train? It isn't exactly the best transportation method…" he put a hand to his chin in deep thought.

"True, but they are quite fast." Erza said, though Harry detected a hint of uncertainty.

"Guess it's up to us to figure out where those Eisenwald guys are going and why." Grey said and Harry blanched when he turned to look at him,

"Grey, you're naked." He pointed out.

"Am I?" Grey asked looking down at himself.

Harry shook his head; he didn't even seem to notice…

"Well," Harry said, rubbing his temples, "The military has been called to action, which means they've given up on discretion to an extent. My guess is whatever it is they're going to do; they're going to do it soon."

Erza gave a small nod, though no one was going. The car started up again and moved along, speeding up though not as quickly as last time.

They flew through to the next town; Grey was back on the roof.

"Slow down, Erza! You're going to overload the SE plug."

"There's no telling how many innocent people could die if lullaby is played!" she shot back, not slowing down at all, and Harry couldn't blame her. He would do the same.

"I can't slow down; we have to stop Eisenwald before it's too late!" she declared.

"But at this rate you're going to use up all your magic before we even start fighting!" Grey said worriedly.

"Well then, I'll just have to rely on hand to hand combat." Erza insisted stubbornly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at this, surprised at her confidence in her ability. Then again, someone who could scare both Grey and Natsu probably would be more than proficient in a regular fight.

"Besides, I've got you and Natsu as back up." Erza added with a slight smile, but Harry noticed trace amounts of fear.

He'd been getting much better at picking up on what other people were feeling as of late.

"Hmm…" Happy pouted.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked the blue cat who crossed his arms dramatically.  
"I feel there was something important I was supposed to tell Lucy but I can't remember…"  
Harry raised an eyebrow,

"Is now really the time for this, Happy?"

"Well, no." the cat admitted, "But I feel like it was _really_ important. It's bugging me…Um, Lucy's…"  
"Totally sick for real…" Natsu moaned.

Happy hit his paw in realization,

"That's it!"

Harry shot him a doubtful look,

"Somehow, I don't think that was it, Happy."

Happy frowned again,

"Well if it wasn't that, then what was it?"

Harry shrugged,

"Why are you asking me?"

Happy just hummed in thought,

"Lucy…weird? Hungry? Fishy?"

"Natsu, what are you doing, you're gonna fall out!" Harry shouted as Natsu leaned out the window.

"That's what I'm aiming for." Natsu groaned.

Harry grabbed him and started pulling him back into the car.

"What's that up ahead?" Erza exclaimed.

Harry looked up and saw smoke rising in the distance.

"Ooh, that can't be good." Harry winced.

It was the Oshibana train station.

"On the bright side," Harry said, "It looks like we found Eisenwald."

The car seemed to jerk into a faster motion as they sped down the streets. It only began to slow once they were just outside the station.

They all got out of the car, Harry grabbed Natsu and dragged him into a piggy back. There was no way he was about to just forget him after that train incident.

"Please stand back!" a man with a megaphone said to a crowd of people, "The station is currently closed due to a train derailment."

He didn't seem to be reassuring anyone though as the people in the crowd murmured about the station being taken over by a group of thugs.

Harry held out a hand, trying to stop Erza before she went running off again, but she was simply too quick, running up to the man making the announcement.

"We ask that you please stand back!" the man repeated, then Erza put a hand on his shoulder, making him turn around.

"Excuse me, what's going on?" Erza demanded.

"Why would I tell you, lady?"

That wasn't the right thing to say. Erza head butted him, causing him to stumble back.

"What's going on?" she head butted him again, "What's going on?" another head butt and now the man was on the ground, holding his face in his hand.

Harry let out a sigh, then noticed that Grey was naked again.

"You know, I'm starting to think you might be one of the sanest people in Fairy Tail…you might want to find your clothes though, Grey." Harry added.

Grey didn't say anything, nor did he seem to notice. Natsu moaned from his spot on Harry's back.

"The Eisenwald guild's inside." Erza said coming up to them, satisfied with her information.

"So…I'm just supposed to drag this guy around?" Harry asked.

"Sorry." Natsu rasped out.

Harry rolled his eyes, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the motion sickness potion and fed half to Natsu who quickly perked up and stood on his own.

"W-wait, now I won't have any for the ride back!" he realized.

"People won't be in danger on the ride back." Harry shot back, "We'll pick up some bubble gum or something for the train, that should help you."

"Fine." Natsu huffed, "You know, you were a lot cooler when we first met."  
Harry smirked,

"Then learn to make your own potions. I'm having the other guild members look out for the ingredients I need for your potion anyways so I should be able to make more when we get back. Just don't keep rushing off without it all the time."

Natsu grumbled something, but no one paid any attention.

"Come on." Erza said, "We can talk about this later."

She took off into the building, Harry, Grey and Natsu not far behind. As they ran down the tiled halls, Erza began to explain,

"A small army unit stormed in earlier but they have yet to return. I'm guessing they got caught in battle with the Eisenwald forces." She reasoned.

As they approached the stairs, Harry's eyes widened at the sprawled-out bodies of soldiers that littered the place.

"They've been completely wiped out!" Happy gasped.

"They were up against an entire guild of wizards." Erza said brushing it off as though it was expected, and Harry supposed it was, "A small contingent like this would never stand a chance against such a powerful group."  
They slowed to a walk, and Harry knew they were getting closer now. He could see movement, and when they entered through a square archway, they found a large room with hundreds of people waiting for them.

There was a man with silver hair, wearing no shirt and showing off the black tattoos that draped over his shoulders floated in mid-air. A scythe hanging over his neck. He laughed cruelly and without any humour…well, unless he found it humorous, the thought that he might be defeated.

"Welcome." He said, "Step into our parlor, Fairy Tail flies."

The men all seemed to laugh along with him. There were a lot of them, but none of them were deterred.

"You fiend." Erza growled, "I take it you are Erigor." It was more a statement than a question.

He grinned but didn't respond further.

"Hey, you." A man in white with black hair tied up into a high pony tail said, looking directly at Natsu, "It's your fault I got into trouble with Erigor."  
"You." Natsu snarled.

"We're not threatened by any of you." Erza said bravely, "Tell me what you're planning to do with lullaby."

Erigor smirked,

"Oh? You haven't heard yet…" he flew backwards and up over the train, "What do all train stations have?"

"Wind magic." Happy observed.

Erigor landed on top of a post with an intercom system. Harry's eyes widened, they were going to broadcast lullaby? His lips thinned into a line. But what was their end goal?

"You plan to broadcast the lullaby song?" Erza realized, voicing Harry's thoughts.

Erigor let out another cruel laugh,

"Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to this station to get a glimpse of the action. Who knows? If I raise the volume enough I may be able to extinguish the entire city with my melody of death!"

"And for what reason do you have to commit such a heinous crime against the innocent people of this town?" Erza's voice rose with each word she spoke.

"This is a warning to all the fools out there who refused to appreciate the rights they hold so dear. Being willfully ignorant of those of us who have had their rights woefully stripped away." He smirked, "They've committed the sin of turning a blind eye to the world's injustice. Therefore…the reaper has come to punish them!" Erigor ended off the triad with a psychotic look.

"And…how is that going to help you get your rights back?" Harry asked with an eye roll, "That's just senseless…or are you trying to go for the whole 'world domination' thing?"

Erigor growled, obviously annoyed by Harry's making light of their situation.

"At this point we've given up trying to regain our rights." Erigor admitted, "We want power! Then we will be able to wash away the sins of the past and take control of the future!"

"It's a world domination thing." Harry sighed, "Why is it always world domination?"

Grey snorted.

"We're bringing a new age of darkness!" the pony tailed, black haired man sneered, "Of course, once that comes about you flies will be long gone." He touched the ground with one hand and a purple magical circle cast shadows to move and come to life, lifting in the air and aiming for Natsu, who blew them away with his flames.

"Tch, I still haven't thanked you for what happened back on the train." Natsu grinned and Harry could see all of his teeth, "Looks like we've got ourselves a party here, huh?"

Harry rolled his eyes,

"Natsu, I know you were trying to sound cool just now…but I think that's one of those things that just sounds better when you think it."  
"Oh, shut up!" Natsu huffed.

Then, Erigor flew up into the air,

"I leave them to you. Show them the terror of the dark guild, Eisenwald!" he then promptly vanished into thin air.

"Natsu and Grey, go. I need you to stop him." Erza ordered.

Grey and Natsu looked at each other incredulously.

"If the two of you work together, not even Erigor the reaper can defeat you." Erza said, eyes narrowing at the group of mages, "I'm leaving him in your hands."  
Already Grey and Natsu were glaring at each other, mentally at each other's throats. Erza turned around angrily,

"What did I say!" she shouted.

"Aye!" Grey and Natsu cheered together.

"Happy, I think Grey and Natsu are using you as their roll model." Harry told the blue cat.

Happy laughed a bit at this, then realization seemed to dawn on him,

"Hey, yeah! They're taking my line!"

Harry shook his head, then turned back to the fight.

"They ran off!" Someone shouted.

"They're going after Erigor!"

"I got it." A man with a striped headdress that made him look liked one of those mummy sarcophagus…things, shot strands of black ribbons from his hands and grabbed the rails and sprung up onto the second floor railing.

"I, the great Reul will take them down."

"He seems full of himself, putting the word 'great' before his name." Harry muttered and Happy nodded with a small, "Aye…"

A circle appeared under the black-haired man's feet,

"I'm coming with you. That pink haired dimwit's gonna pay!" he sunk into the shadows he summoned beneath his feet.

"We'll catch up with them once we've finished up with the men here, okay?" Erza decided.

"Sounds good." Harry agreed, staring down the members. He noticed that a good majority of them were ogling Erza.

"Heh, mama always told me not to hit girls, but I think I can make an acceptation." Was one of the many comments Harry was able to catch.

Erza thrusted her hand forwards, "Let's do this!" a red magic circle appeared in front of it, and a before Harry could even blink Erza was grasping a sword.

Harry summoned up his own sword through his word magic.

"If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again in my presence, I swear none of you will live to see tomorrow!" Erza decided.

The mages all ran forwards.

"We have magic swords too!" someone sneered.

With two swings of her sword though, Erza broke their weapons apart like twigs.

"Obey thy command! God of thunder, come forth!" lightning shot out of Harry's sword, zapping all those near.

Harry then took off into the crowd quickly with Erza. With the scattered remains of broken weapons, Harry aimed his magic at them then thrust his sword into the ground. Cracks appeared along the ground,

"Draconifors!" Harry shouted, and the mass of weapons bonded together and transformed into a smallish dragon which attacked the members. Harry swung his sword, blocking someone else's weapon, then, adding a bit of magic, broke the thing apart.

Then beams of light magic shot out at him, he jumped aside. One of them nearly hit Erza, but Harry knew Erza had seen it coming long before she had dodged.

Then, Erza began to glow. Harry didn't stop to fixate on it though. It seemed that it was a distraction enough for the men as her armor appeared to be coming off. Harry took out three more of them, his dragon transfiguration took out six.

Then, Erza was wearing very…revealing armour. Her breasts were nearly bouncing out of their covers.

She reequipped a sword, then a spear. She shot forwards and began fighting double time.

Harry noticed his dragon injured now and disbanded the spell. The mages seemed surprised when it turned into a pile of broken weapons.

"Obey thy command! Gods of fire, come forth!" he shouted and a jet of flames engulfed a group of mages.

Harry slashed and knocked out several more of them. Erza seemed to pick off the majority though. He slammed his sword into the ground again which lit up with cracks and gathered the broken swords.

"Draconifors!" he shouted the spell, this time he had enough to make two dragons which began fighting off the remaining men.

Harry relied more on his hand to hand, then with his two fingers made a slashing motion in thin air. Celes letter magic appeared and nocked out four different men at once, and that was that.

"Impressive." Erza said, her armour changing back to her regular outfit.

"I'd say you did far better." Harry chuckled.

"Wow…" Happy said wide eyed, "I don't think I've ever seen you fight like that before Harry. Last time I only saw you use your sword and that one spell…"  
Harry shrugged.

"And…were those dragons?" Happy asked.

"Not real ones." Harry said, "That was a transfiguration spell. Transfiguration is magic which turns an object into something else. It's a bit tricky because you need to focus on what an intimated transfiguration is at all times and…I've lost you, haven't I." Harry realized when he saw Happy's distant look.

The last lackey, a man with green hair turned tail and ran.  
"Forget this, I'm out of here!" He sped off through the open train station doors.

"I would imagine he's going to look for Erigor." Erza said turning to Harry, "You should follow him."  
Harry blinked a few times in surprise. Why didn't she want to do it herself? Unless…

"You're low on magic, aren't you?" Harry stated, looking her over calculatingly.  
Erza winced,

"It doesn't matter. We have a job to do Harry, and…"  
Harry summoned his sword, then flipped it over, the handle facing Erza.

"Take it." He said, "I don't want you exhausting yourself further. I'm sure you're proficient in hand to hand. But if worse comes to worse, I know you can fight with a sword."  
Erza looked stunned,

"Harry, I can't. That's your weapon."

"And you'll be borrowing it." Harry insisted, "Take it. Before I used a sword I used to practice a different style. I don't usually rely on it, but I'll still be well protected. Take it."  
Erza still looked stunned, but slowly took the handle of the sword.

"It's beautiful." She said softly, "The craftsmanship is unlike anything I've ever seen. And the magic that's coursing through it is…is it your own?"

Harry nodded,

"I added the magical designs to it." He admitted.

Erza gave it a few practice swings,

"What's it's name?"

"Name?" Harry asked.

"Surely it has a name?" Erza raised an eyebrow.

Harry sighed then closed his eyes. An image of a fiery wolf appeared in his mind. Syaoran's kudon. He vaguely wondered why he was thinking of that now. A strange whisper entered his thoughts…a word.

"Reyearth." Harry said almost quietly, "My katana's name is Rayearth."  
"Rayearth." Erza said, testing the word out, "It's suitable somehow. Very well, I promise I'll take extra good care of it." She said firmly.

Harry nodded,

"I know you will. I'll be back soon." He said running out of the room to catch up with the fat looking green haired member, wondering where he might have gone…

He saw movement, and headed down to the left, then quickly turned a corner again. If only he'd caught the guy's name, then a simple 'point me' spell would do the trick. He let out a frustrated groan, but continued running non-the-less.

Harry let out a groan after a while when he realized he'd been running in circles. Where could that guy have gone? He knew he could run, but there was no way he could run that fast that Harry had completely missed him.

"Harry…can we slow down?"

Harry turned to see Happy flying behind him.

"How long have you been there?" he wondered.

Happy's mouth fell open, then an aura of gloom seemed to settle over him,  
"You didn't even notice me…"  
"Sorry." Harry said, slowing down to a stop, he ran a hand through his hair, "I don't know what I should do. I can't find that guy anywhere…

"BOOM BOOM BOOM!"

The building began to shake. Harry turned to Happy,

"How much do you want to bet that's not Natsu?"

Happy snorted,

"No bet, it's obviously him. No one else here would accidentally try to blow up the train station."

Harry shook his head,

"Well, might as well follow the explosions then, come on." He took off running down the halls, and down to where Natsu and Grey had gone earlier. He made a turn and found a path of destroyed walls and doors.

"I don't get that guys sometimes." Harry shook his head, "He could have just gently opened the door, there was absolutely no need for this."  
"Natsu can be a bit of a hot head." Happy admitted, "But at least he gets the job done."  
eventually Harry slowed down when he heard Erza, Grey and Natsu's voice coming from inside the room.  
"He can't die until he's dispelled the wind barrier!" Erza shouted, and when Harry made his way to the door he saw her shaking the black haired guy up and down.

"Uh…" Harry said uncertainly.

"Harry!" Grey exclaimed, "Can you heal this guy?"

"That's right!" Erza realized, "You practice healing magic!"

Harry nodded dumbly,

"Uh, right. You want me to heal this guy?" He asked, rushing up to him, "You're going to have to tell me what's going on…I couldn't find that…fat…guy…" Harry realized the guy he'd been looking for had been punched through a wall and was lying unconscious up against the wall in the next room over.

"O…kay?" Harry tilted his head to the side.

"Never mind that." Erza said, "Just heal him."  
Harry gave a slight nod then took out his wand and began scanning the unconscious victim over. He scrunched his nose and quickly reached into his bag, eyes now serious.

"He has some internal bleeding. He needs help fast or he's going to die…his magical channels are shorted out. I can heal up the damage in his gut…but he's going to have some trouble casting for a while…"  
"That's no good." Erza growled, "We need him to dispel the wind barrier."

"Wind Barrier?" Harry looked up, "Okay, I'm pretty sure I was only gone for ten minutes max. What happened?"

"There's a wind barrier outside." Erza said in a low voice, "Try to break it and it will cut you to shreds." It was then Harry noticed she was grabbing her arm.

Harry took out some dressings for his broken bones, and fed him a few drops of potion from three separate vials.

With his wand he scanned him over again,

"He should be out of danger." Harry said, "For now. He'll be unconscious for a while though."  
"This isn't going to work…" Erza grinded her teeth.

"Hey, what about that teleportation technique you use, Harry?" Natsu asked.

Harry shook his head,

"It only works if I can see where I'm going. I don't use it too often so I haven't thought about training it further." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "Show me the wind barrier. Maybe we can come up with something if we have all the factors lain out."


	13. Chapter 13

**Getting close to the end of the Fairy Tail arc. So, I'm not going to have Harry see himself to the end of each series, as you've probably already guessed. I mean, I might get through a season or a story arc at most. Maybe a bit more. And I think I might have Harry revisiting some of these worlds later. Fairy Tail gave Harry a sense of home, or at least, a better understanding of it.**

**Hogwarts is pretty terrifying. I mean, Harry has to face dark lords, basilisks, dementors and a whole ton of other stuff when he's supposed to be in a place that's safe.**

**You can already tell that Harry has grown OP. Not OP enough that he could take on Natsu, Grey or Erza yet. I'd see he's the weakest one there right now. But he's learning to take those leaps, and that's good.**

**And again, I don't own Harry Potter or Fairy Tail.**

"Wait," Harry said, "Erigor wants to use lullaby on the guild master?"

Erza had led them all down to the barrier and Natsu was trying to force his way through with fire.

"Natsu, that's not going to work." Harry hissed, "Stop it now, I don't want to use all my skele-gro potion on you because you decided to break all your bones slamming into a wind barrier!"  
"No!" Natsu said stubbornly.

"I'm pretty sure we can catch up with him on the magic mobile." Grey added in helpfully, "But we aren't going to be able to do anything until we make it through this barrier."  
Harry hummed in thought,

"What if we sent a message?" He asked.

Erza blinked, then turned to Harry,

"You have an idea?"

Harry nodded,

"A patronus charm. It's a spell used to summon a guardian animal that comes to a person's aid. Back home they were used to protect a person against dementors…Er, dementors are creatures that eat human souls." Harry explained, "But, the patronus can be used a messenger. I think it might be able to get through the barrier."  
Erza nodded,

"It's not a bad idea. Do it…Do you need your sword back?" she asked.

"I can use my wand." Harry shrugged, then made a swirling motion, "Expecto Patronum!"

Out from the white light came, not a stag…but something else.

"A raven." Erza commented.

Harry nodded, looking at it a bit dumbly,

"Strange…it used to be a stag…Patroni only change into a different animal when the person casting it has gone through a life changing experience or revelation." Harry murmured, "I know a lot of couples tend to have the same patronus too but…" he shook himself then gained a serious air, "Message." Harry said, "To Master Makarov. There is a man named Erigor from the dark guild Eisenwald who plans to kill all the guild masters with death magic from the flute lullaby. Erza, Natsu, Grey and I would come ourselves but we are currently trapped behind a wind barrier. We believe though that he plans on playing the death spell to the entire town. If possible, evacuate!" Harry turned to them, "Anything you want to say?"

"No, that pretty much sums it up." Erza decided.

"End message." Harry told the patronus, "Now go!"  
The raven flew through the barrier and disappeared, but Harry could feel enough of a drain on his magic to know that it had gotten through.

"Alright," Erza said, "Now about the wind barrier…"

Harry let out a sigh,

"Maybe we could dig under the barrier?" he murmured half heartedly.

"Hold on…" Happy said, eyes widening in realization, "Dig? Under? WHAAaa!"  
the shriek caught them all off guard and caused them all to jump.

"What?" Natsu asked, stopping his helpless attack on the wind wall to cover his ears.

"I have a key!" Happy said, "It's Virgo's key, remember Natsu? From Duke Everlue's manor?"

"Duke Everlue?" Natsu looked lost a moment until realization seemed to dawn on him, "Wasn't that the gorilla maid from before!" he cried.

"Gorilla maid?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah." Happy said, "Apparently her contract with Everlue was void once he was sent to prison, but that's not the point! She can dig tunnels. That's her magic!"  
"Dig tunnels?" Erza asked.

"Then we can get through!" Grey realized, "But wait…I don't know how to summon a Celestial spirit, do you guys?"

Harry frowned,

"I did research on the magic of some all the people who came in as patients. I wanted to learn more about the magic in Fiore." He shifted, "I know the summoning spell, but I've never done it before…"

"Do it." Erza ordered.

"Yeah but…" Harry trailed off looking at the key in Happy's hand, "It should go to Lucy. Plus, if I summon a celestial spirit…I'll be making a partial contract and Lucy…"  
Natsu understood,

"Don't worry about Lucy." He said, "She's got spirits with her already, three of them. Besides, it's Makarov's life on the line!"  
Harry clenched his jaw and balled his hands into fists,

"I…I guess." He sighed, coming to a decision, "I just hope she doesn't hate me or something. May I have the key, Happy."  
Happy held out Virgo's key,

"Here you go."

Harry took the key in his hand looking over the small gold instrument curiously. Would this spirit hate him? She had wanted to go to Lucy, right? It had a white glass head with the sign of Virgo in it.

Harry held it out forwards and closed his eyes,

"I sure hope I say this right."

_Trust yourself._ The Barron's voice rang through his mind and Harry gained a determined look.

"I call upon thee. In the world of the celestial spirits." Harry chanted, a golden circle appeared at his feet, "And now, I beckon you to my side at once, pass through the gate!"

The key began to glow, Harry slashed almost horizontally, though slightly tipped, then down.

"Open, gate of the maiden, Virgo."

A girl in a maid outfit with purple hair burst through from a glowing yellow light. She had shackles on her wrists and gave a slight bow.

Harry blinked a few times, then looked over at Natsu,

"Natsu…when you say gorilla maid…"  
"Woah, she lost weight!" Natsu exclaimed.

Happy looked wide eyed and shocked.

"You summoned, master?" the maid-spirit asked Harry, "What can I do for you?"

"She didn't just loose weight, Natsu." Happy said, "She's totally different!"

"I'm a very loyal spirit who will take on any form to please her wizard. So I take on whatever form I think my wizard will find most appealing." She explained.

Harry blinked a few times, a bit surprised at this. Okay…?

"I don't know, I kind of liked it when you were all big and tough looking." Natsu said thoughtfully.

"Did you really?" Virgo tilted her head to the side, "Well then…" she suddenly grew until she was as big as a house, hair tied into pigtails and rugged looking.

Harry and Grey both let out noises of shock,

"Gyah! Um, change back!" Harry ordered.

Virgo quickly changed back into her petite looking form,

"As you wish master."

Harry and Grey both let out sighs or relief.

"Um, I'm sorry," Harry said uncertainly, "I realize you wanted to go to Lucy…but we're in a bit of a situation and could really use your help."  
She blinked a few times, eyes widening.

"I can see you have a kind heart. I will be happy to serve, my master."

Harry nodded,

"Er, thanks…I was wondering if we could work out the details of the contract later…I'm sorry if I'm being rude…"

The maid blinked again,

"That's fine…anything to please my master."  
"Uh…okay." Harry said hesitantly, "You don't need to call me Master, though. My name's Harry. Harry Potter."

She didn't appear to understand him though,

"Would you prefer that I call you king?"

"No." Harry said bluntly.

"How about Prince?"

"Um, no thank you." He said, realizing he probably wasn't going to win this one, "I guess…if you need to use a title, 'master' is fine…" he said resignedly, wondering if he should take that headache potion now…

"Very well, master." She bowed.

"Alright," Harry said, "Do you think you could dig a hole under the barrier?"

"Most certainly." Virgo said, her eyes glowed with a ring of red, then a big hole appeared in the ground she'd been standing on.

"Nicely done." Grey whistled.

Harry grimaced as Erza grabbed his head and slammed it down against her armoured chest.

"Yes, well done."  
"T-thanks." Harry stuttered out.

"Well, let's blow this joint." Grey said, then turned when Natsu leaned down and swung the black haired wizard's arm over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Grey asked.

"I know he's one of our enemies, but I'd feel guilty if we just left him here to die." Natsu explained.

Erza gained a soft expression that seemed a bit rare for her and Harry knew that she agreed.

Outside the wind barrier the whole town seemed to be shaking with the force of the wind. They'd made it outside through Virgo's tunnel, but they were far from done in their mission.

"This wind is insane!" Harry shouted, then noticed that Virgo's panties were showing as her skirt was being blown up. He blushed and looked away.

"We need to get to Clover!" Erza said.

"It's no use…" the semi-conscious black-haired mage muttered, "You'll never be able to catch up to Erigor. You can't stop us…we've won."

Harry snorted,

"I already sent the guild master's a message long ago with the whole run down. If it's not there already, it should be there in a minute or two." Harry's eyes narrowed at him, "We might not be able to make it, but the guild masters will be prepared. However, even if they aren't…We're still going to get there."  
The man's eyes widened,

"You sent a message?"

Harry gave a nod,

"I did."

"Where's Natsu?" Grey asked looking around.  
"Happy's gone too." Erza realized.

"They took off a while ago." Harry said, waving them off, "At the speed he was going, I wouldn't be surprised it he made it to Erigor before he even got to the town." Harry stared down at the man with hard eyes, "So you're wrong. You lose."

Harry turned as Natsu picked the guy up once again. He quickly entered the magic vehicle and Erza took control.

"Harry," Erza said, then handed him back his sword, "I'm not going to need this while I drive…Thank you. It came in handy."  
Harry smiled slightly,

"No problem."

She seemed replenished of her magic slightly, but Harry wasn't sure she had enough for that magic vehicle. She refused to listen to him though.

They took off. Erza turned the car onto the train tracks and once again they were bumping along. And really, the ride was far bumpier.

"I don't get it." The man with black hair said, "Why…why are you taking me with you?" he paused, but before anyone could answer, decided to answer the question for himself, "Oh, I get it. You plan on using me as a hostage against Erigor. Well, you can forget it. Erigor doesn't care about his men.

"If you want to die, we can make that Happen." Grey said looking out the window board, "There's a whole lot more than just life and death you know. You should try to look for the positive. You and your Eisenwald pals."

Harry sighed, looking down at the key in his hand. He'd have to find a place to keep it later, other than just the front pouch of his bag. He had a friend now, and he wouldn't mind summoning her more. They'd be stuck with each other a while, probably…

Suddenly the car hit a massive bump and the key nearly went flying, but Harry caught it just in time. He quickly stuffed it away in his pocket. There was no way he'd let himself lose something so important!

"What happened!?" Grey called outside to Erza.

"It's okay!" she shouted back, "Everything's fine now."  
Harry took on a concerned look, recalling that Erza was still low on energy. He realized though that asking again would hurt her pride.

The car slowed to a halt as Erza shouted out,

"Natsu!"

Harry leaned out the window a bit. The train tracks were built over a deep chasm. When Harry finally drew his attention away from the fact that they were so high up, he saw Natsu ahead of them standing over an unconscious Erigor.

"He did it." Harry smiled, "Natsu beat him."

"I'm proud of you, Natsu." Erza said, Harry got out of the car and practically had to catch her from falling off her spot.

"Hey there, careful." Harry said with concern, "You know, you didn't need to push yourself so hard. I may not be able to drive these things, but Grey could have taken over, you know."

Erza smiled weakly,

"Grey's not as good at driving, and he probably wouldn't have gone as fast."  
Harry let out a sigh,

"Well, I can't do anything about your magic, that will have to come back on its own." He reached into his bag, "I have a pepper-up though. It restores energy and it will make the magical restoration faster." He pulled out the vial, "I want you to have three big sips of this, do you understand?"

Erza nodded,

"Yes, doctor."  
Harry rolled his eyes,

"I'm not a doctor, you know."

"You are to the guild, Harry." Erza said calmly, then took her three sips and handed the vial back to Harry, "You can keep it for later." Harry told her, "Nothing bad generally tends to happen from drinking too much pepper up unless you plan on drinking it and going days without sleep. Seems like something you might find useful later."  
Erza nodded, then put the vial up on the car, carefully.

"I can't believe you had such a hard time with this guy." Grey said, crossing his hands over his chest, goading Natsu.

"I never said that," Natsu harrumphed, "I took care of him, didn't I?"

"I was kind of worried for a while there." Happy said.

"Whatever." Grey said, "You look pretty stupid wearing a scarf when you're half-naked."

"Like you have room to talk." Natsu shot back, "Hey, Harry, give me your clothes."  
Harry just snorted rudely,

"Try asking me nicely and maybe I'll give you an extra shirt I have."  
Erza laughed,

"Anyways, well done, Natsu." She praised, "Thanks to you, all the guild masters will be safe now."

"I guess I should send another patronus message." Harry yawned, it had been a long day.

"While we're here we might as well meet up with the guild masters to find out how to best properly dispose of the lullaby flute." Erza added, regaining enough strength that she could stand on her won.

"Might as well since we're so close to Clover." Happy agreed.

'BANG!' the magic mobile they'd been using to get around in suddenly pushed off from it's spot and into the air, run by the black haired mage they'd saved before. Shadows played around the car like tendrils and one of them had grabbed the lullaby flute.

"Kage!" Erza shouted.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Grey growled loudly.

Harry tensed, preparing for a fight.

"The lullaby's mine now! Shouldn't have let your guard down, flies!" the car then landed about a yard ahead of them and took off.

Erza, Grey and Natsu stared out at where the car had been dumbly while Harry seemed to be pondering on something.

"I didn't know his name was 'Kage.'"

"Harry, we've moved on." Happy said waving a paw.

Harry shook his head.

"After him!" Erza shouted.

"Wait." Harry said, making everyone stop, "I think I can get us there relatively fast."

"How?" Erza asked in a demanding tone.

"Everyone get close together." Harry ordered.

They all huddled around him, then Harry cast his word magic around them and reappeared on the tracks a lot farther up.

The words whirled around them again, and they were on a mountain above the tracks. They were ahead of 'Kage' now.

Harry did it again and they were on the tracks…then again, and again until a city began to come into view. Harry was sweating tiredly.

"Just once more." Harry murmured to himself and gathered his energy.

They were in the streets of Clover.

"Wow, Harry!" Happy chirped, "That was impressive."  
"Are you okay?" Erza asked with concern.

"I should be fine." Harry said, "We need to go, which way to the guild masters meeting?"

"That way!" Happy said then began taking off in one direction. And of course, Natsu fallowed after him.

Needless to say that was the last time Harry was ever going to take directions from talking blue cats, not matter how convincing they may be.

They got lost for a full fifteen minutes before Harry finally had enough and performed a 'point me' spell on Makarov.

They found themselves in a park by the guild hall. They made their way up a ledge and when they peered down they could see him…only problem was that Kage was there.

"Gramps!" Natsu said suddenly.

"Shh…" they all turned suddenly and jumped back…well, accept for Harry and Erza when a man in a pink spaghetti straps, underwear and strange looking white wings on his back seemed to appear. He was fat, bald…and Harry believed he was wearing make-up.

"We're just about to get to the good part." The man said.

"Boy aren't you boys yummy…so adorable." He said as Natsu and Grey both cowered away from him.

Harry rolled his eyes. It was obvious to him that the man was trying to make them feel uncomfortable on purpose.

"Master Bob." Erza greeted.

"Oh, the guild master of Blue Pegasus, right?" Harry vaguely recalled.

Bob looked up at them and smiled happily,

"Erza, honey you have really filled out." He commented, then noticed Harry, "And who are you?"

"Hello." Harry said, "My name is Harry Potter."

"Ooh, you must tell me how you cast that communication spell with the raven…that was impressive." He complimented, "I've never seen something like that before."

"Thank you." Harry said, taking the praise in stride, "It's called a patronus charm. It was originally created to drive away soul sucking demons, but it can also carry messages."

Bob laughed,

"So you used a spell intended to drive away demons as a messenger, oh that is too good!" he winked but Harry decided to not respond, he just turned to look over the hill and listen in on Makarov and Kage.


	14. Chapter 14

**Okay! We're reaching the end of the Fairy Tail arc! Harry has a companion!**

**I've always liked Virgo and I think that Harry needs someone on his travels between worlds to just…give him a bit of stability, you know? He needs a close friend who will stay by his side and I think Virgo's the one. Plus, fanservice!**

**Once again, I don't own Harry Potter or Fairy Tail**

"Well?" Makarov asked staring Kage down who seemed to be frozen, just before he could play the flute, "I can't wait all night, young man."

He looked like he was about to play again.

"Calm down, we're just about to get to the good part." A man in a black had and shades said, trying to get Grey and Natsu to stop making noise.

"Well?" Makarov asked.

By now Kage's hands were shaking and sweat was trailing down his chin. Makarov dipped his head, looking solemn,

"Nothing's going to change."

Kage let out a short gasp that Harry barely picked up on. He lowered his flute.

"You cannot change the fact that those who are weak will forever remain weak." Makarov said, turning his back, "Now maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I mean, we humans are weak creatures by nature. Our insecurities are the reasons why guilds even exist and, they're why we have friends." He turned to look at Kage again, "When we're surrounded with allies its easier to stay positive about the future." He smiled, as though he were recalling something beautiful…and painful too, "Think of it this way, if we're clumsy we will stumble and bump into things. But think of our future. When we march forward our inner strength appears on its own. But we have to choose that path and pledge to live our life to the fullest." He was now facing Kage with a grin, "Don't let that silly flute gets in the way."

Harry watched the two with awe, absorbing all of Makarov's words and holding onto them one at a time. That's what friendship was, Harry thought. All those times he had been laughing, and all those times he would cry or make a sarcastic comeback…he wanted Erza, Natsu, Grey and Lucy to be there too.

He understood now…The lesson…A smile spread across his face.

Kage threw the flute to the ground. He dropped to his knees and bowed his head.

"I surrender." Kage decided.

They all went running to Makarov.

"Master!" Erza said happily.

"Good job gramps." Grey congratulated.

Makarov looked utterly shocked,

"Wha? How did you kids end up in Clover?" he said alarmed.

"Master Makarov," Erza pulled the master to her chest and Makarov let out a yelp. Harry winced slightly with sympathy, "Your words touched me so deeply that I was almost moved to tears."

The other guild masters came down the hill all looking rather pleased. Grey chuckled slightly,

"Well it looks like we came just in time to see the master talk his way out of another one."

"Another one?" Harry asked Grey curiously.

Grey shook his head, a smile plastered on his face,

"I'll tell you later."

And then came the creepy laughter. The lullaby flute began to glow and a purple mist rose up from it ominously. Harry watch…seriously unconcerned as it began to speak,

"I grow tired of you cowardly wizards and your actions!"

Everyone looked at the flute, alarmed. A giant magical purple circle appeared in the sky, centering over the flute.

Magical lightning crackled overhead, charging the air.

"I can no longer hold back!" The flute said angrily, "I'll just have to come forth and devour you myself!"

A giant demon…thing appeared, about as tall as a mountain. It walked on two legs and it was made out of wood. Its face looked like it had been roughly carved out, it's eyes and mouth were hallow.

Harry just rolled his eyes,

"Of course, it couldn't just end here." Harry said, "There just has to be an epic fight. What the hell is with all these plot twists?"

A few of the guild masters looked at Harry with amusement.

"I shall feast…" the flute demon (Flute demon? Really?) said, "Upon your pitiful souls!"

"What is that thing!?" Kage shouted distressfully, "Erigor never said anything about a monster!"  
"We're in a pickle." Said Bob, looking kind of unconcerned.

"It must be a demon from the book of Zeref." The other guild leader in a black hat and sunglasses said…and Harry hadn't bothered to hear his name again.

"So that's what lullaby really looks like." Harry guessed.

"Now then." The demon said, leaning forwards to look at Harry, Grey, Natsu and Erza, "Which of these delectable souls should I dine on first?"

"Delectable, huh?" Natsu asked, then turned to Grey, "Do you think souls are really that tasty?"

"How should I know?" Grey shot back, annoyed.

"Natsu and Grey, get everyone to a safe place!" Erza ordered, her eyes hard.

"Quit barking orders!" Natsu huffed.

"Yeah, you're not the boss of us." Grey added.

But Erza gained a gleam in her eye,

"Just do it." She said.

"Aye aye!" both Natsu and Grey said joyfully.

Harry snorted, then shook his head, looking back down at Happy,

"They're still imitating you…"  
"I've decided I'm okay with it now." Happy waved away, "After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Harry shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned.

And of course, there was an army down bellow who had arrived to stop Eisenwald but had managed to get caught up in the same mess…they retreated right away after the beast turned its head.

And the demon blew up a mountain…that was a bit intimidating…but even though Harry was scared, he wasn't going to back down. Something stopped him from turning away and fleeing for his life. He smiled slightly as he looked at his friends, all getting ready to charge forward.

"I have no need for those pathetic humans." The demon said, referring to the retreating army, "I'd prefer the taste of a wizard soul and I will consume all of yours!" it said turning back to the wizards.

Natsu shook his fist at it.

Oh, that's intimidating, Harry thought, mentally rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah, I'd like to see you try!" The pink haired wizard gladly accepted the challenge, "Bring it on, big guy!"  
This seem to anger the demon. A purple magic circle appeared above it and he let out a horrible roar, which seemed to cause all the plant around it to die.

"Ready?" Erza asked, reequipping two swords in hand.

Harry summoned his own sword through a twist of letters.

"Oh yeah!" Natsu and Grey said together.

Harry just nodded, determinedly. Erza rushed forwards, then Natsu, Grey, then finally Harry.

They jumped up, Harry used his letter magic beneath his feat to give him a boost up. Erza requipped her armour, changing into the same outfit from before.

She slashed at the beast which let out a cry of what Harry assumed to be pain.

"Powers of Celes!" Harry shouted, then channeled his magic through his sword, "Crystal spears!" Shards of crystal shot out at the beast, it seemed to do quite a bit of damage.

Harry continued using his letter magic to maneuver himself through the air.

"Ice make, lance!" Grey shouted, then pummeled the demon with icy spears.

Natsu punched his fists together,

"Now it's my turn." He jumped up into the sky, "Fire dragon, iron fist!" he punched it in the face, causing it to stumble back.

Harry dropped to the ground, then planted his sword into the earth, deciding to use the remaining trees for transfiguration.

"Draconifors!" Harry cried, the ground cracked and glowed with energy, then all the trees around him turned into smaller looking dragons, which all flew up and began to claw and breathe fire at the demon.

Erza slashed the demon again with her swords, and Natsu punched and kicked with fire. Grey cast several ice spears at it.

The beast let out a roar,

"You are making me angry!" it shouted, and Harry jumped out of the way as it destroyed the land he had been on with a single swipe of it's hand.

Harry used his word magic to propel him forwards. He had to admit that he was a bit terrified. He'd never used his word magic like this before. Sure he'd thought about doing it…but this was all new, and he hadn't even realized he was this powerful…

He channeled magic into his sword,

"Obey they command! God of thunder, come forth!" Harry shouted and launched a wave of electricity at the beast.

Sword still crackling with energy, Harry rode through the electrical storm and slashed with his sword, noticing something interesting…he was a lot faster than he had been before.

Could it be? He wondered, the electricity…when he focused it through his nervous system…He'd test that one out later, he decided.

Grey shot a bunch of ice crystals at the beast, which pierced through it. Then Natsu jumped into the air once again.

"Fire dragon, wing attack!" Natsu shouted, beating the demon down.

The demon let out a roar, a white ball of energy appeared at it's mouth and all the plants began to crumble and turn completely brown.

"Just one note and your souls will be mine!" the demons said, now obviously frustrated, it let out another roar then…some sort of weird whistle sound, that was really quite faint. It was difficult to describe with a word other than…

It seemed that all those holes they'd managed to put in it made the sound go all…er, well, yeah.

"All that build up for this?" Grey wondered.

Harry shrugged,

"Flutes are pretty lame to begin with."

"You mock me!?" the demon asked, then kicked down a mountain.

The demon's eyes gleamed, but Grey saw the attack coming for the people on the hill, he quickly got over there, him being the closest.

"Ice make…"  
Boom!

"Shield!" A wall of ice appeared, protecting everyone from the fire that erupted from the demon's magic.

Then Natsu began munching on the flames.

"Now I've got a fire in my belly!" Natsu said, licking his lips greedily.

The demon backed away,

"You're not human!" it punched the rock Natsu had been perched on, "You're a monster!"  
Natsu jumped onto it's arm and began running up.

"Oh, like you can talk!" he charged.

"Stop climbing me!" the demon shouted, panicking.

"Requip!" Erza shouted, then changed into black armour with bat wings on the back.

"Ice make saucer!" Grey said, forming a giant round form of ice that spun like a saw and rushed towards the demon.

"Gods of Thunder!" Harry shouted, pressing his two fingers against the sword and summoning a massive ray of lighting towards the demon.

They all hit, ending in several impressive explosions.

"Natsu!" Erza shouted.

"Now!" Grey said.

Natsu slammed his fists together, fire in both hands,

"The flames of my right hand, and the flames of my left." He jumped up, "Put the two together!" he slammed his hands together, "Fire dragon, brilliant flame!"

A giant glowing ball of fire went hurtling towards the demon which let out one final, horrible scream…and then everything exploded. A burst of white light burst from the demon and into the sky, causing the clouds to crackle.

"Uh…guys?" Harry asked, now looking at the giant crater where the meeting hall used to be, "Wasn't there a building there a second ago?"

Makarov's jaw dropped open.

"Uh…oops?" Grey suggested.

"Can you fix it, Harry?" Natsu asked, "I mean, you can fix anything!"

Harry raised an eyebrow,

"I can't fix it when there's nothing left." He shook his head.

That was about the time that the people who had been up on the hill started getting angry.

After talking with Lucy and telling her about the Virgo key, she seemed cool with it. It wasn't like Harry had tried to steal her or anything, and she even helped Harry form a contract with the spirit.

And of course, Harry had to get the most awkward spirit ever. Sometimes he'd wake up and she'd be sleeping in his bed with him. Or she'd appear at random time to help out.

At first it was just plain odd…but Harry grew used to it, he even came to somewhat enjoy the spirit's company.

Then came the day that Harry knew he'd have to move on. He still had a lot to do, so much to learn and to see. But he was definitely coming back to Fairy Tail. It was…the guild was his home. More a home than Hogwarts had been, even if he'd only been there a couple of months by the time he'd reached his decision.

"Open, gate of the maiden." Harry said, "Virgo."  
Virgo materialized in his apartment, which was pretty empty now. Harry had packed up his things and the spirit was looking around confused.

"Is there something you needed, Master?" she inquired, sensing something was up.

Harry sighed,

"I need you to listen, Virgo…There's something I haven't told my friends. I plan on telling them though when I get back. I just figured I'd tell you first. It wouldn't be fair to you if you didn't know what I was doing."

Virgo blinked a few times in surprise,

"What is it?" she asked softly, having grown rather fond of Harry.

"I'm not from this world." Harry admitted, "I've been traveling worlds in order to 'learn lessons'…Well, that's what Ana calls it. She's the one who's been sending me to different places." He explained, "I know you probably aren't going to believe me right off the bat, but…you know, fair warning. I'm saying goodbye to my friends. Not permanently." Harry gained a determined look, "I was curious though if your key would work in other worlds."  
Virgo nodded,

"It should. The spirit world its self is another world. It doesn't matter where you put the door."

Harry smiled slightly,

"Are you okay with that?"

Virgo nodded,

"Of course. I will go wherever my master wishes."  
Harry chuckled slightly and shook his head,

"You have your own opinion too Virgo. You can voice it."

The spirit blushed slightly,

"It's just…I've been everywhere in Fiore, and in this world. I think it would be quite interesting…to see other worlds."  
Harry grinned,

"Then I'll show you other worlds." He decided.

Virgo disappeared in a glow of light and Harry reattached her key to the chain on his pants.


	15. Chapter 15

**Yay! This is the start of the new arc! Now, I know I probably won't be touching on everyone's favourites when it comes to anime (there are just way too many!) But I wanted to touch on the really popular ones. Tsubasa Chronicles is moderately well-known, I know a lot of girls like it. Fairy Tail is loved by nearly everyone I've come across and Bleach…Bleach is a mix of reviews. Like…I really liked the first few seasons, the rest was kind of…okay? I mean, I liked it, but it didn't make my mind explode the way the first couple of arcs did.**

**Either way, it's kind of gone down as a classic, so I thought I'd devote an arc to it.**

**I think this is the version of Animetopoeia where I also touched on one or two lesser known anime, but…it's possible that it's not. I know I did a crossover where Harry visited Assassination Classroom and one where he visited Detective Loki Ragnarök. But it's been so long that I can't remember whether this was a fic that touched on those two or not…Oh well. I guess we'll all be surprised.**

**I don't own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail or Bleach!**

Harry walked into Fairy Tail, looking around at the chatting faces. The master was sitting at the bar, he decided to approach him first.

"Master Makarov?" Harry asked him.

"Oh, Harry." He turned his head acknowledging him, then seemed to notice something...off, "Are you alright?" he asked seriously.

Harry seemed to think about this a moment,

"I will be. I wanted to say goodbye for a while."

"You're going somewhere?" Makarov asked, though there was a knowingness in his voice.

"Yeah." Harry said, "I'm going on a journey. It might take me a few months but…" Harry smiled slightly, "Being here has been awesome. It's like a home to me, more a home than I've ever had…I need to stop running from my problems though. I'll be back though." He promised.

"You look like you're going to war." Makarov sighed, "You better come back, Harry."

Harry nodded, and he knew his eyes had gained a hard edge,

"I sold off my apartment. When I get back I'll probably get a room here though. I stalked up on potions so you guys should be good for a while."

"This place won't be the same without you." Makarov said.

"I know. You'll miss my witty comebacks."

Makarov snorted,

"Just get out of here."

Harry grinned,

"Just tell anyone who tried to visit me at my apartment, 'kay?"

That was that. Harry returned to the empty room he'd called a home for what felt like forever.

"I've learned my lesson." He said, and something inside him felt lighter from having said that too.

Ana appeared, floating just above him, the two were almost nose to nose.

"Well, you're certainly picking up some interesting things on your journey. Virgo's key? Do you know how many fanboys would kill themselves for that?"

Harry shrugged blandly and Ana pouted,

"Well you're no fun. And somehow you got all sullen and sarcastic too…well, I guess you'd appeal to a pretty large part of the fan base and all, especially with your looks, but still." Her expression turned into a smile, "Ready to go?"

"Ready." Harry nodded.

"Well then," Ana said, "Onto the next world! Bleach!"

A bright multicolored light surrounded Harry, then suddenly, he found himself inside a different empty room.

It was Japanese style. He recognised it from his time in the Baron's world.

He massaged his temples. He'd taken Japanese classes as part of the school curriculum back then, but he'd always hated the class as he had so much to catch up on, and he never really did catch up. He wasn't looking forwards to doing that again…

The room he was in had a bed with a school uniform on it and some textbooks.

The textbooks in Japan were not the thick sorts he'd been used to in England. They were smaller hand held books. A school bag was on the bed too and some papers, a debit card and money.

Harry looked through the stuff curiously, then noted a few kitchen facilities outside sliding door. A fridge, which he opened up and riffled through. It was empty…A sink, an oven with a stove, a toaster.

Then, in the center of the room was a table resting close to the ground with these cushions for chairs.

Yup, Harry thought, definitely Japan. Or at least a version of Japan.

If he was going to school again he was going to need a laptop and printer for assignments. Not to mention school supplies. There was a note on the table from Ana.

_Dear Harry,_

_You start school tomorrow at Karakura High School. Best of luck._

_Ana_

_P.S. Don't worry about how much you spend. Your money should stay at a constant four hundred thousand yen._

Four hundred thousand was a decent amount. Though he wasn't working or earning his money like at Fairy Tail, which meant there was something in this world which would likely occupy his time.

In any case, he needed to buy some groceries and school supplies. And he only had until tomorrow to do all that.

He grabbed his bag, and took out his wallet. He stuffed the money from Fiore into a separate compartment then put the Japanese yen within reach and slid his card into a slot. He noticed a student I.D. card inside his wallet and rolled his eyes, at least he could tell from the address on the card which direction the school was in…

As he made his way out the door and locked it with his new apartment key, someone else came out of the room beside him.

"Oh, hello." It was a girl with orange hair that went down her back. She wore blue butterfly clips to hold it back.

"Hello." Harry greeted, "I'm guessing you're my new neighbour. I'm Harry Potter. I just moved here today."  
"Really?" the girl asked, "I didn't hear the moving van…"

"That's because it didn't come today." Harry lied, "It arrived a few days ago. All I have right now is a table and bed so…I'm about to try and find the market. Do you know where that might be? I'm afraid I haven't yet had the chance to look around."

"Oh, yes!" the girl said, "I'm about to head there now to buy my own groceries. It's only a few blocks away; do you want to come with me?"

Harry smiled with relief,  
"That would be very helpful, thank you." He said, "I still have a bit of unpacking to do later…and I need to buy some school supplies…"  
"Oh, are you going to Karakura High? That's the closest school from here." She offered.

"Yeah, that's the one." Harry said, "Do you go there too?"

"I do." She agreed.  
And Harry knew that his meeting with her was likely no coincidence.

"Sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, my bad!" she exclaimed, "It's Orihime Inoue. Nice to meet you."

They started talking and Harry found he rather enjoyed Orihime's company. She was a bit of an airhead at times, but he could tell she was smart in her own right.

They talked a bit about friends, Orihime's best friend, Tatsuki who would bring her food because she felt Orihime would make really strange dishes.

Harry laughed a bit at that. He bought some food for supper and lunch the next day. It was all he really needed for the time being. Japanese grocery stores had some of the weirdest foods…but after eating at Fairy Tail for so long one got used to trying new things.

He bought a bento box, some chopsticks which he had gotten much better at using! But that was about it for the food store. Orihime led him to a mall not too far off after he dropped off his things at his apartment and she helped him pick out what he'd need for their next day.

"Thank you very much for helping me, Orihime-san." Harry bowed, recalling the customs he'd learned from the Baron and Haru.

"Oh no, don't mention it." She waved her hands in front of her.

Harry smiled though,

"You know; I could make super for you tonight. I consider myself a very good cook and I feel like I need to thank you somehow."  
Orihime blinked,

"You don't need to thank me. I just did what anyone would do."

Harry laughed slightly,

"I don't think just anyone would spend their time helping their neighbour get to better know their neighbourhood. Besides, there's this recipe that one of my friends from back home gave me that I've been meaning to try." He explained.

"Well, alright." Orihime decided at last.

Harry unlocked his apartment and the two entered. It really was a small place…

"Oh, that's right, did you want to invite your parents?"

Orihime shook her head,

"No, I live alone."  
"Oh. Sorry." Harry said quickly, "I live alone as well…um…"  
"it's alright, Harry-kun." Orihime said slightly, "I don't really remember them so…"  
"Me neither." Harry added.

"You're an orphan too?" Orihime asked.

Harry nodded, but he didn't feel upset,

"My parents died when I was one. I lived with some relatives for a while but that didn't work out too well." He scrunched his nose, "Someone else pays my expenses though so I can focus on school. She's a friend who saw my situation and took me away."  
"I see." Orihime said thoughtfully, "Do you want to walk to school together tomorrow? I can show you the way."  
"That would be great." Harry agreed.

He made Japanese dumplings with salad, rice and a special soup he'd learned to make at Fairy Tail from Mira.

Orihime seemed to like the food a lot.

"Come over any time." Harry told her, "I really like cooking and it's always fun to share."

Orihime laughed,

"You'll have to come over to my place next time so I can cook for you. I like to make my own recipes and it's always fun to see what people think of them."

"I guess I will." Harry smiled, "See you tomorrow morning, what time should we meet?"

"I usually get up at seven, then start walking at about eight."

"Alright, I'll meet you outside at eight." Harry decided.

As it turned out, Orihime usually walked to school with a girl named Tatsuki. They had very different personalities, but Harry noticed that Tatsuki seemed very protective of Orihime, to the point where she was giving him suspicious looks every once in a while.

"So what class are you in?" Orihime asked Harry curiously.

Harry got out his class schedule from his bag,

"Uh, it says one dash three…"

"That's our class." Tatsuki said.

"Really?" Harry asked surprised, then relieved, "At least I'll know someone there then. I was kind of worried about that." And to be honest, he actually had been a bit worried about that.

"If you want, you can eat lunch with us." Orihime invited.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki gasped.

Harry noticed Tatsuki was rather uncertain about the whole thing.

"That's fine." He said, "I was kind of hoping to explore the school a bit then. I wouldn't want to intrude on your lunch. Maybe another time?" he asked.

Tatsuki looked a bit torn, realizing what he was doing.

"Oh, alright." Orihime said looking down a bit, "We can have supper tomorrow though, right?"

"Supper?" Tatsuki asked, "Are you two dating?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, no!" Orihime said waving her hands.

"We're just neighbours." Harry added in, "I only came to live in Orihime's building yesterday. It's just that we both live alone, so we thought we'd test out each others food and stuff."

"I see." Tatsuki said, looking satisfied by the answer, "But…what about your parents?"  
Orihime winced slightly,

"H-hey, Tatsuki…don't we have a thing today?" she said trying to distract her.

"It's alright, Orihime-san." Harry told her, "My parents died when I was one and my relatives and I don't get along."

"Oh." Tatsuki said embarrassed, "Sorry, I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it. It happened a long time ago. And you don't need to cover it up, Orihime-san. Though I do appreciate the sentiment."

As they walked to school, Harry noticed a girl who was slightly see-through. She had a chain on her chest and she appeared to be slightly transparent and floating.

A ghost? Harry wondered. Tatsuki and Orihime looked right through her and Harry had the sense that they couldn't see her.

So this world had ghosts…interesting.

As soon as Harry entered Karakura High School he noticed a strange energy. It felt a bit like magic but not at the same time. He reigned in his own magic, a bit worried about whoever it was sensing him. He'd learned more about controlling his magical aura from Grey and had improved immensely in terms of control since then.

He sensed two people in the school who seemed to have this energy, though it felt very different. It was a bit difficult to explain in words.

Needless to say, Harry was not the only transfer student in the school.

"Class we have two transfers today." The teacher said as Harry waited outside the door with the short black-haired girl. She seemed to be one of the two sources of the strange energy. Not that he could tell what it was.

He was a bit worried to ask because if he did then he'd have to explain who he was and he'd grown a bit cautious with his secrets as of late. There was not telling when some government agency would come along and drag him away for experimentation…or try to.

"You can come in now." The teacher said.

Harry slid open the door and him and the other new student walked in through the door.

"Please write your names up on the board and introduce yourselves." She ordered.

Harry let the other girl go first. She took the chalk and wrote up her name which Harry was surprised to see was half kanji and half katakana.

The family name was 'Kuchiki,' or at least he thought that was how it was read. Her given name, which was in katakana was 'Rukia.' It was an odd name, even by Japanese standards.

"Hello." She greeted with a smile on her face that Harry felt was fake, "My name is Rukia Kuchiki. I like rabbits a lot, and I enjoy reading. It's nice to meet you all, I hope we can all get along." She gave a formal bow to the class.

The teacher nodded with approval. Rukia handed Harry the chalk and he quickly wrote his name up on the board in Katakana.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter." Harry introduced, "I just moved here from Britain. I enjoy reading a lot as well, I've also studied a variety of martial arts. It's nice to meet you." He gave the same formal bow.

"Right then." The teacher said, "Kuchiki-san, why don't you sit over there, Kurosaki-kun normally would sit beside you but…it seems he's absent today. Harry, why don't you take the empty desk near the back next to Tatsuki?"

Harry nodded and walked over to his desk as the teacher started homeroom.


	16. Chapter 16

**I think that at this point, Harry has started to develop more of a personality. He can be freaking terrifying when he's angry, but doesn't actually realize it. He's starting to explore his own style when it comes to clothing, and he might be a bit of a troll.**

**I don't own Harry Potter or Bleach**

Harry took notes in Japanese…er well, half-Japanese half-English. It would probably look really confusing to any normal person and he had a feeling that anyone who understood both English or Japanese would have a hard time figuring out what the notes said anyways. He might need to get a tutor in the subject. He had the Baron to help him before but it seemed he'd taken that for granted.

Harry sighed, going over his notes again then froze. Someone with a lot of the strange energy had just entered the school.

He looked around uncertainly. It felt a lot like Rukia's energy…

The door to the classroom slid open and a boy with orange hair walked up to the desk where Rukia had been sitting.

What was his name? Kurosaki? The teacher had said something about someone not being there, so Harry assumed this was him.

"So, Ichigo." One of the guys in class said, Harry didn't know his name, "I heard a truck ran through your house last night."

"Pretty much." The guy, Ichigo said blandly taking a seat at his own desk.

"Have you cleaned it up yet?" two other students came over. One had darker skin and was super tall, the other was rather short with bluish black hair. The later of the two was the one asking.

"What are you kidding? It will take forever." He groaned.

"Need any help?" the tall student asked in a near emotionless voice

Ichigo looked up at him,

"That's…okay."  
Harry watched as Rukia began walking towards the group slowly. She'd written something down on her hand, Harry noted, though he wasn't sure what it was.

"Hello. You're Ichigo Kurosaki-kun, aren't you?"

Ichigo turned his head and promptly began to freak out when he saw her. He stood up abruptly and pointed to her,

"Y-you!"  
Harry raised an eyebrow. Did they know each other? That was a rather extreme reaction…

"Hey Ichigo, what's wrong with you?" one of his friends asked.

"You two know each other?" the bigger student asked.

"Of course not." Rukia denied sweetly, "We've never met before. Isn't that right Ichigo?"

Ichigo flinched.

"Yeah, Rukia's the new transfer student." The shortest in the group said.

"Good to meet ya." The other (Not the tall one) said almost lecherously.

Rukia held out her hand to Ichigo,

"It's a pleasure." She flipped her hand over slightly, and Harry remembered that had been the hand she'd been writing on. Ichigo went bug eyed, then seemed to regain his senses.

"Could I talk to you outside?" he asked.

"Of course." Rukia said far too innocently for Harry's liking.

If he was ever going to figure out just what was going on, he'd have to follow them.

Casually, he snuck out of the back door of the class room before he saw Ichigo and Rukia come out of the door near the front of the class.

He didn't know how well Rukia could sense energy, as he had a feeling Ichigo couldn't sense it at all. He couldn't even control his own energy! It was lashing everywhere and Harry wondered how he'd be able to concentrate on school at all with that flaring up whenever Ichigo got particularly angry.

He waited a while until they were farther down the hall, then let the feel of their energy guide him. He silently hid behind a pillar as Ichigo and Rukia stood outside in the court yard.

They obviously didn't want to be overheard, Harry thought to himself.

"Alright you little nut job, what the heck do you think you're doing?" Ichigo shouted.

"How scary. You big brute." Rukia said, though she didn't look all that scared to Harry, "Jeepers, you aren't going to hurt me, are you?"

"First of all," he pointed a finger at her, "You can knock it off with that goody two shoes act, okay?"

Rukia smirked,

"Well I think it's pretty good considering I learned it over night."

And now she was showing her true colors.

"Alright, forget it." Ichigo said rolling his eyes, "So tell me just what you're doing here now anyways? Weren't you supposed to return to your 'Soul Society' or whatever it was?"

Harry sensed Ichigo had managed to hit a nerve as Rukia's eyes narrowed,  
"I can't." She said resignedly, "Only Shinigami can go back to the soul society." She closed her eyes and let a slight sigh escape her lips, "I haven't the power to return anymore."

Harry frowned. Shinigami? Wasn't that some sort of god of death in Japanese legends or something? Was that what Rukia was? But then what about Ichigo?

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked, and Harry could hear a bit of concern in his voice.  
"Last night I lost almost all of my power as a soul reaper."

That was true, Harry thought. Had Rukia not been nearby he probably wouldn't have noticed her presence at all.

"I'm afraid it was all absorbed into you, Ichigo." Rukia added.

"I wouldn't know anything about that." Ichigo denied.

"Thanks to you, for the time being I'm stuck in this ridiculous Gigai form." Rukia accused.

"What do you mean by 'Gigai'?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia pointed to herself,

"It's a temporary body that serves as a vessel in an emergency."

Harry raised an eyebrow at this, so…Rukia was some sort of spirit, then.

"If a Shinigami is weakened then they reside in a temporary body until their powers come back."

Realization dawned on the orange haired boy,

"Oh, now I get it. So that's why the others were able to see you before, right?"

Harry frowned. That confirmed his suspicion concerning this particular world. There were ghosts and other spirits that seemed to reside here but only some people. But some people had the ability to see them, like Ichigo who somehow took Rukia's power, though likely not meaning to.

"So," Rukia said, "Until all of my powers are back, it's up to you, Ichigo to perform the duties of a Shinigami."  
Ichigo just stared at her, trying to process this. Harry had a feeling that he didn't want to do that at all.

"It's only natural," Rukia continued, "You now possess the strength of a soul reaper. You do not have the right to refuse your calling…"  
"No way!" Ichigo said quickly, cutting her off.

"What?" Rukia demanded.

"My monster slaying days are over. That was a one-time deal." Ichigo scowled.

"Don't be ridiculous, Ichigo. You did just fine yesterday." Rukia said brushing aside any of his 'concerns.'

Ichigo clenched his teeth grimly,

"That was only because my family was in danger." He couldn't meet her eyes, "But it's not like I'm ready to go fight for complete strangers or anything. Sorry to disappoint you." He turned around, apparently satisfied with the information he'd gotten.

Rukia, however looked like she was up to something.

"I see…" she said, then slipped on this strange looking red fingerless glove with a skull on it, "Guess there's not other choice then…Hey!"

"Huh?" Ichigo said turning around as Rukia suddenly rushed at him.

She then knocked him in the head with her palm and pushed right through his body. To Harry's bewilderment, two Ichigo's appeared. One on the ground in his regular school garb. The other was looking around wildly in black robes. He had a giant sword strapped neatly to his back.

"Ah, crap! What happened to my body!?" He shouted, pointing at the body, his own body which was lying on the ground, "What in the world did you do to me?" he asked looking down at his clothes and hands wildly.

Rukia remained ever so calm and turned,

"Follow me." She ordered calmly.

Seeing as there was no way out of this without doing what Rukia said, he obeyed. But he sure as hell didn't like it!

Having followed the two Shinigami, Harry found himself standing just a little way off from a children's playground.

He could sense something…wrong. Like an energy that was somehow twisted up and weird.

"Hey, you gonna tell me where we're going here?" Ichigo asked as they stopped outside the park.

"We're getting close." Rukia said.

"Close to what?" Ichigo scoffed.

"Our latest orders." Rukia said impatiently, taking out a cell phone and flipping it open, "From the Soul Society. It looks like the spirit of a boy that dwells here in this park is likely to come under attack soon."

As though on cue there was a sudden shout of fear.

The elephant slide in the park burst apart as a giant monster with six legs completely black with a white, bone mask appeared. It was chasing a little see through ghost boy who looked wide eyed and terrified.

"Help me!" The boy cried.

Ichigo ran forwards, only to be stopped by Rukia's shout of,

"Wait, hold on!"  
Harry tensed up, prepared to cut in if the situation got bad.

"What is it!?" Ichigo paused.

"Just where are you going?" Rukia asked, "That boy's a complete stranger, isn't he?"

Ichigo clenched his teeth and looked at her,

"So what? I can't just stand by and let this happen. You expect me to watch him die?" he shouted.

"Don't be such a fool!" Rukia shouted, causing Ichigo to jerk back slightly, "In the eyes of a Shinigami, all the souls of this world are equal. Getting involved simply because spirits are nearby or need help isn't how it works."

Ichigo turned at the sound of the kid letting out another cry.

"Leave him be!" Rukia said, "If you intend to help this child, then commit yourself to saving every spirit. You must be willing to go to any length. Even to sacrifice your own life."  
Harry bit his lower lip. That certainly wasn't fair to Ichigo. It was clear that this wasn't the sort of life he wanted. But that didn't mean he absolutely had to leave the boy to be eaten by that…thing!

But would Ichigo realize that?

He was frozen on spot for a moment. The creature was getting closer to devouring the child spirit when suddenly, Ichigo stepped forwards and quickly grabbed the blade off his back, slicing off the thing's leg and stopping it in it's tracks.

Rukia raised an eyebrow.

"Have you made your decision?" she asked him blandly.

"Like hell I have." Ichigo growled out, and it seemed that Rukia was surprised.

"I haven't decided to do squat." He continued, "I saved this kid because I wanted to, you here me?" said kid was on the ground crying his eyes out.

"What about you?" he asked.

Rukia was looking at Ichigo like she'd never seen him before.

"Me?" Rukia frowned.

"I seem to remember you putting your life on the line to save me last night." He said turning to face her with a hard look, "Tell me, were you really thinking about your duty when you rushed to help me? Of course not! That's the last thing on your mind when you save someone!"

Harry smiled slightly. It seemed those two would be okay. The monster from before had gotten up and was now rushing at Ichigo from behind.

"At the very least." He said, "I choose…to be different!" he plunged his sword into the monster's head, right through the mask. The monster fell to the ground, then began to disappear.

He could use some work with his sword technique, Harry observed, but as a beginner he'd done pretty well.

He gave a small stretch, then a yawn. He might as well call it a day. He'd gotten his information.

As he began walking back home he began wondering what he was going to do about the whole situation. He grasped Virgo's key which hung off the side of his school bag. People often just assumed it was decoration…He'd have to inform her about this world and what was happening.

He paused, just outside a wooden stand where an elderly man seemed to be selling strange looking masks.

A thought occurring to him.

He began looking through the masks curiously. The old man raised an eyebrow,

"Not often I get customers such as yourself. Normally tourists and older folks…"  
Harry shot him a smile,

"I have some friends in Britain and I remembered them once saying something about wanting me to bring them back a mask or something along those lines…besides, these look very nice." Harry reached for a fox mask and smiled slightly at the design. It was white with a red dot in the center surrounded by a black brush stroke. The black strokes took up several parts, decorating it, though not too much. He held onto it as he riffled through the others. He picked up another mask, black with green almost glowing designs that traveled through it, it only covered half a person's face though.

"Could I get these two?" he asked the man.

"Certainly. That will be four thousand yen."

Harry took out the cash from his bag and placed it down on the small tray in front of him. The man picked up the money and counted through it, then nodded.

"Please come again." He said.

Harry just waved and walked away, stuffing the masks into his bag.


	17. Chapter 17

**I do not own Harry Potter or Bleach. I just like writing fanfiction (^_^)**

As soon as Harry had locked the door to his apartment behind him he summoned Virgo who looked just about ready for anything. She looked around the apartment curiously.

"Is this where you're living now, master?" she asked him curiously.

Harry nodded,

"For the time being. While I'm in this world at least. I called you because I wanted to explain what world we're in now." He sat down on one of the cushion chairs at the table,

"You can sit if you'd like."

Virgo shifted a moment, then sat down across from him.

Harry crossed his hands looking at Virgo over the table,

"In this world, the technology is more advanced than the stuff you'd find in Fiore. The main language is Japanese, something I can already speak. But I think you should still be able to understand it as well due to Ana…at least I think so." Harry frowned, "Either way, there are some dangers. In this world there are ghosts that only some people can see. From what I can tell, people with magic should be able to see them as well, so you ought to be good there. Some of the spirits here are demons though…well, I'm not sure what they're actually called, but it's a good description. They wear these white bone masks. In order to kill them you need to break that mask. That's their weak point." Harry explained, "If you try to cut them anywhere else they'll just regenerate."

Virgo nodded, her expression suddenly very serious. Harry ran a hand through his hair in thought,

"There are these other spirits called Shinigami. Shinigami are basically death gods or…well, I suppose a better term is 'Soul Reaper.'" He paused, "Shinigami, from what I can tell combat these creatures. I think they also send on the souls of the dead to the next life…anyways, I'm trying to gather information on them. I can't leave this world until I've learned my lesson…whatever that is." Harry sighed, "So I need as much information as I can get."

"Do you wish for me to gather more information, master?" Virgo asked.

Harry thought about this,

"Not yet. I'm attending a school here. There are three individuals so far that have caught my interest. Ichigo Kurosaki, he's a human but appears to have the ability to turn into a Shinigami. Rukia Kuchiki, she's a new transfer student and she's a Shinigami who is trying to get Ichigo to take on her Shinigami responsibilities. From what I can tell, she's lost her powers. The third individual is an unknown. I just know that he or she attends the same school as me." Harry explained, "Oh, and there's no magic in this world. We can still use it but…"  
"I understand, master." Virgo nodded, "I will be discrete if you require me to. But may I ask why you are choosing to stay in the shadows?"

Harry hummed slightly,

"I'm worried. This world hasn't seen magic before. And in a world that hasn't seen magic, it's likely they'll react badly or try to catch me, or you." Harry added.

Virgo nodded,

"So you're waiting to decide what to do."

"I am." Harry's lips then quirked into a smile, "I do have an idea though…I think I'll wait a little bit longer and see what happens."

The next day was the start of the weekend and Harry thought up a list for supper that night, deciding he'd need to go to the store.

A knock came at his door just as he got up. Harry opened it to see Orihime waiting for him there.

"Oh, um, hi Harry-kun." She greeted, "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me and Tatsuki tonight."

"Sure." He smiled, "I'd love to have dinner with you guys."

He paused when he noticed a strange energy surrounding her. It took him a moment to locate it, but there was a bruise on her leg that was giving off faint traces of demonic energy.

"What happened to your leg?" He asked looking down at the bruise.

"Huh?" Orihime asked, then looked down, "Oh, right. This car came out of nowhere and hit me, but I'm okay, I swear!" she said quickly.

Harry frowned, it looked a lot like something had grabbed her…he went over to his bag over on his bed and pulled out a small vial of potion.

"Here." He said handing it over to her, "It's a bruise balm. Just rub it on your bruise and it should go right away." He smiled slightly.

"Oh, you don't need to…"  
"Don't worry." Harry reassured, "I have more of it. Besides, bruise balm is for healing bruises and you have a bruise, right?"

Orihime nodded but looked at the jar a little uncertain. Harry smiled slightly,

"It's no problem. I don't want you to feel bad about taking it. You need to think of yourself sometimes too, Orihime."  
She shot him a smile,

"Well, alright." She decided at last, "But you need to come for dinner. It should be ready at six."

"Deal. I'll see you then." He closed the door as she walked away and let out a sigh.

That solved one of his problems at least. He decided to go for a walk. It was a tad chilly out that night, so he pulled a hoodie over his head as he moved about. He still had fifteen minutes to kill so he made a bit of a loop around the local park when his senses alerted him to Ichigo's energy.

The Shinigami was bouncing around on top of the rooftops, carrying Rukia on his back. Harry's eyes narrowed, then he tensed when he felt a familiar demonic presence from back where he had been staying.

"Orihime!" he whispered, then quickly turned around and began running back at top speed, which was very fast.

He got there just in time to see part of the apartment complex explode and Ichigo go flying out through the wall and land on the ground, blood on his head. Harry hid behind a corner and watched. He could jump in if things went bad.

There was a masked demon thing holding Orihime by the waist.

"Let me go!" she screamed, "Let me go!"

"Orihime…" the monster said, "Have you forgotten me?"  
Harry raised an eyebrow. The monster knew her? He frowned, it was a spirit but did that mean it was dead too? Harry would have to rethink his theories on these creatures.

Orihime seemed to freeze, then turn around to look at he thing,

"Sora?" she asked, "Is that…you?"

Meanwhile Rukia was crouched over Ichigo.

"Ichigo! Come on, get up!" she pushed.

Ichigo pushed himself up off the ground, and Harry could see there was blood dripping down his face.

"I'm trying…" he murmured.

"This is not going to be easy." Rukia said, "So where are you hurt?"

"Like you care." Ichigo said, pressing a hand against his head, "Forget about it, I'm okay."  
"Good." Rukia nodded, "Listen up, that hollow may have been her brother once, but now it's nothing but a monster."  
Hollow? Harry wondered, was that what they were called?

"You've got to stop it." Rukia told Ichigo, "It has no heart so put aside all your feelings and destroy it."

No heart…Harry looked at the monster that had once been Orihime's brother. Then he remembered the chains on the ghosts of those he'd seen so far, then looked again at the hole over the hollow's chest. Could it be? Once the chains were gone…maybe they eroded and that turned the ghosts into hollows? It seemed to be the best theory he had so far.

Ichigo jumped up to Orihime's room, shouting something that Harry didn't quite catch. It seemed that Orihime had been having a conversation with her brother, until he'd gotten violent.

Then Ichigo and the hollow were back on the streets, fighting with all their strength. Ichigo hesitated though before he could cut the hollow's mask and the hollow took that moment to strike him with it's tail. Ichigo went hurtling towards the ground, loosing his sword. Harry glared, readying himself to fight. The hollow went flying towards Ichigo again mouth wide opened. Its teeth sank into…Orihime.

The wound wasn't quite fatal though Harry knew it would be bad if she didn't get any treatment.

"Orihime…" Ichigo whispered horrified.

The hollow let go and the red head girl sank to her knees.

"Orihime…" the hollow murmured, "Why did you do that?"

"Sora…I had to save Ichigo." Orihime said through tears, "'because this is all my fault…The reason you're this way…it's because of me, because I begged you not to leave me alone. That's why…you weren't able to find peace." Her tears dripped down onto the cold cement, "And it's all my fault."  
"Orihime…" the hollow said, almost softly.

"Since you died, I always had this sense that you were watching over me." Orihime admitted, "Because I asked you to. Even yesterday, when that car was about to hit me…you protected me, didn't you? I have this mark because you grabbed my leg to get me out of the way in time. That was you, wasn't it?"

But the bruise on her leg was already gone. She must have used the bruise balm, Harry thought to himself.

"That explains it." Rukia breathed.

"Then one day I realized." She continued, "If I kept depending on you to stay by my side then you'd never be able to rest in peace. But if I showed you…" she breathed looking up into her brother's eyes, "That I could do things on my own then you could leave me and pass on. I never dreamed it would make you sad and lonely." Her body was racked with sobs again as she moved away from the hollow's mouth, "I would never want to do that to you, brother!" her arms moved away and she fell down to the ground, barely holding herself up by her uninjured arm.

"Orihime!" her brother cried, then the mask on his face seemed to flicker. He looked human for a moment, then back to a monster.

The hollow let out a cry.

"Rukia what the hell's happening here!?" Ichigo shouted, staring at the spectacle with amazement.

"The part of him that's still human is fighting the hollow for control." Rukia said seriously, eyes narrowing, "Evidently, this one didn't become a hollow by choice. He must have been taken over."  
"Taken over?" Ichigo asked, "By who?"

"A soul that is devoured by a strong hollow is manipulated by that strong hollow." Rukia explained, "And that hollow desires your reiatsu. So it took over this pour soul to attack you. It hoped that since you knew this soul in life, you would hesitate to fight him. Which in fact, you did."

The hollow let out another tortured cry.

"Right now the brother's soul is desperately fighting that hollow." Rukia said, "For it's sister's sake."  
The hollow let out another cry, this time it sounded more human,

"O-Orihime!" there was no monster in that voice.

The monster's mask completely broke to pieces, shattering to dust. Orihime saw her brother's face and smiled with the remainder of her strength before falling down to the ground, unconscious.

"Orihime!" Ichigo shouted then ran forwards.

"It's alright." Rukia said, "Fortunately the chain of fate is still connected. As long as it's attached to her she will not die."  
Harry let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for that at least.

"I need to treat her." Rukia said getting to her knees and turning her over roughly.

Harry winced, it seemed Rukia had some battlefield medical training but she seemed to have agitated the wound.

"The power of my kidou should be able to save her." Rukia said placing her hand over Orihime's chest. Her hand glowed a soft green color and Harry could sense the healing energy.

Ichigo looked down,

"That hairpin she's wearing was a present from you, wasn't it, Sora?" he said, "She told me that once…That's why she wears it every single day."  
Sora looked at Orihime and the pins in her hair with wide eyes. Harry could see tears forming, but forcefully held back. He turned and looked at the sword Ichigo had lost from his grip. The blade was stuck in the pavement, cracks formed around it.

Harry tensed, wondering what he was going to do.

He picked up the sword.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.

Sora didn't look at him, only kept his gaze focused on the sword,

"I only have a short time before the hollow overwhelms me again…then changes me back into a monster. So, while I'm sane and can still think clearly…I'll end this." He drew the blade up against his throat and Harry watched wide eyed, not entirely sure what to do in this situation. Could you kill something that was already dead? Would Sora be condemning himself into oblivion for his sister? And would that be a mercy?

Harry clenched his fists. He knew that he would rather oblivion then to bring senseless pain like that…but it wasn't right. It wasn't fair.

"No wait, don't do that!"  
"Ichigo!" Rukia stopped him, "It's alright, he's made the right decision." Her hand still hovered above Orihime's chest, still glowing the same soft green light, "Once you become a hollow you can never go back to what you once were again. Passing on is the best thing for him."  
Harry raised an eyebrow, passing on? He thought. She phrased it like she had for the other ghosts. He focused on Ichigo's sword and found there was a strange cleansing energy about it, something he had never sensed before. Realization hit him like one of Grey's kicks.

This wasn't a condemnation. It was a cleansing!

Harry let out a sigh or relief, hope returning to him. He knew there were some pretty messed up fantasies out there, which meant some pretty messed up Anime as well. But he was glad that at least this world wasn't that bad.

"But Rukia." Ichigo protested.

"It's okay." Rukia reassured, voice softening in understanding, "You'll learn that exorcizing a hollow is not the same thing as killing it." She turned to him so that he could see her face, "You're cleansing its soul and allowing it to enter the Soul Society. That's why Shinigami exist in the first place. To help all souls find their way and finally rest in peace."

Ichigo looked up at Sora who gave a nod then closed his eyes.

"Wait." Orihime said weakly, drawing her brother's attention, "I have to tell you something." Her eyes opened and she turned her head to look at him.

Harry was relieved to know she would be okay.

"This hair pin…remember the argument we had about it? The day you gave it to me? I said I didn't like it because I thought it didn't look grown up enough for me. I know I hurt your feelings. And you left without saying anything else, and that was the last time I saw you alive. So now I want to say what I should have said to you when you went off to work that day…" she moved up, painfully until she was sitting, tears in her eyes that threatened to fall, "My brother, have a good day."

Her brother smiled, looking down at her lovingly,

"Thanks…Orihime…" then he stabbed himself through the chest, disappearing in a scattered blue light. The sword dropped to the ground and Orihime burst into tears.

When she finally calmed down she looked up at them eyes wide,

"S-So what's with that big sword and the monsters and…"  
Rukia took out some strange looking device from her pocket that had a strange looking duck on top, she pressed down on it and a bunch of smoke appeared in Orihime's face.

She passed out onto the ground.

"Orihime!" Ichigo said with concern, "What did you do to her?"

"Memory replacement." Rukia said, "I whipped out her memories of the night's events and gave her a new one."

"Memory…replacement?" Ichigo asked confused.

"Unfortunately," Rukia said, "There's no way to predict what her memory will be replaced with…So tomorrow we'll find out what she thinks happened tonight."

Harry's lips twitched. That sounded a lot like an obliviate spell…He decided it was best to show up now as it was coming on six o'clock.

He rounded the corner and made his eyes widen.

"What happened here?" he looked over at Rukia, "Rukia?" Harry wondered, "Why are you in your pyjamas?"

Rukia's eyes widened, then she took on her 'cutesy' personality she'd invented.

"Harry-kun? What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well," Harry said slowly, "I live in the same apartment building as Orihime. The place is split up see. It's one house sort of, but both halves of it are rented out…"  
"Wait, who is he?" Ichigo wondered looking Harry up and down.

Harry had to pretend he couldn't see Ichigo, so he ignored the comment.

"I happen to live nearby too." Rukia said, "I heard an explosion so I came, and…"

Harry blinked,

"You're okay, aren't you? Oh man, I think Tatsuki and Orihime are both up there. I need to see if they're okay!" Harry ran off and fumbled his way up the stairs.

Hah! He was a much better actor than Rukia. He opened up the door to Orihime's apartment and slid his shoes off quickly, running into the room and checking up on the two of them.

As show, he checked Orihime's pulse, her breathing, then tilted her head and checked for any signs of bruising. He then made his way over to Tatsuki and checked on her. She had a wound on her shoulder which was bleeding.

Harry bit his lower lip then checked to make sure it wasn't too deep.

"Broken collar bone." Harry murmured, "Rukia, could you come over here and help me? I have some first aid equipment in my room." He explained, "I'll have to call a doctor to take a look at this…" But before he knew what was happening there was a puff of smoke in his face.

He raised his mental shields just in time, seeing the memory that was meant to replace his real one. He managed to block it, thankfully, but had to make a show of passing out, hitting the ground hard.

"Why did you do that?" Ichigo frowned.

"You can never be too careful." Rukia said, "Besides, I plan on healing all the wounds inflicted by the hollow. It's protocol. If he saw the wound, he might link it to other things."

She started working on healing Tatsuki. Harry waited patiently for the two to leave when Rukia paused by the door.

"What's that?" she asked, looking off towards a shelf at the side.

She walked towards it and grabbed a jar off the shelf.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked, "You aren't messing with her things now, are you?"

"This jar…" she said, then opened it up, "It's giving off a strange reiatsu signature, I've never felt anything like it."  
Harry had to force himself to remain calm. It was the bruise balm he'd given Orihime. He'd put wards around his house to keep out any spirit that was passing by and hide any magical activity he happened to do inside so his apartment shouldn't draw any attention, thankfully.

"Where would she get something like that?" Ichigo wondered.

"I don't know." Rukia narrowed her eyes, "I know someone who might be able to tell me. Come on."

She left, the bruise balm still in hand. Once their energy had faded away into the distance, Harry forced himself up off the ground.

"Well that was rude."


	18. Chapter 18

**I still do not own Harry Potter or Bleach.**

Harry moved Orihime and Tatsuki to his room and started looking them over for any major wounds that Rukia might have missed.

He found a bruised kidney through his medical scan of Tatsuki and quickly force fed her a potion to counteract that.

When they both woke up they were dazed and confused and Harry told them the fake memory version of the story he'd been supplied.

"I saw that Orihime's apartment was missing a wall after I got back from my walk. So, I rushed inside to see what had happened and found the two of your unconscious. I hope you don't mind, I checked you guys for wounds. I have some first aid training. So…"  
They thanked Harry and Orihime slept over at Tatsuki's for the night, calling someone to take a look at the wall.

The next day at lunch Harry ate alone at his seat…until one of the students approached him.

"Hey there, you're Harry, right?"

Harry looked up, a bit surprised at the use of his first name. From what he understood it was rude to use first names right off the bat. Not that he minded.

"Um, yes I am. And you are?" it took him a moment but he realized that this was one of Harry's friends.

"Keigo Asano, Karakura High's local heartbreaker." He introduced, and Harry had the feeling that he was more of a class clown.

"Well, I suppose you know me already, my name's Harry Potter. I come from Britain."

"So, I notice you've been eating all alone, but Orihime has invited you to eat with her several times." There was a gleam in his eyes, "What's that about, huh? You two a couple?"

Harry shook his head,

"No, Orihime and I live in the same building. Sometimes we hang out for supper and stuff. But Tatsuki doesn't like me all that much and I don't want to get in the way of their friendship or anything…"  
Keigo blinked a few times,  
"You live in the same building as Orihime?"

"Um, yes." Harry said tilting his head to the side.

"And you're friends with her?"

Harry nodded,

"Is something wrong?"

"Dude!" Keigo shouted, "She's only, like, one of the hottest girls in school! How can you live in the same building and not go completely insane!?"

Harry shrugged uncertainly,  
"I don't get what the big deal is. We're friends, and she's really nice. She's even been helping me with Japanese homework." Harry scrunched his nose, "I'm still not all that good with the complicated characters. And she's really smart."

Keigo looked completely shocked,

"S-so you're even being tutored by her?" tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Um, yes?"

"Just ignore him." The short boy who'd been hanging around Ichigo seemed used to these antics, "He's always like that. My name is Mizuiro Kojima." He introduced.

Harry smiled,

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Harry Potter. But you already knew that."

"Indeed, I did." Mizuiro said, "So you used to live in Britain? What made you come to Japan?"

Harry shrugged,

"My guardian moved me here. I normally move around a lot, but I think I'll be here for a little while at least."

"Think you could help me with my English homework?" Mizuiro joked.

Keigo's eyes widened dramatically,

"I didn't even think of that! That's a great idea!"

Harry chuckled,

"I'd be willing to help, but I won't do anything for you."

He seemed to strike up a bit of an odd friendship with them. The two of them often ate on the roof with Ichigo and Chad. Though they were a bit miffed at Ichigo spending so much time with Rukia.

"Maybe he's interested." Harry reasoned with a dismissive shrug. But Keigo seemed to latch onto the idea.

During class, Harry noticed something odd about Orihime and Tatsuki. There were traces of that energy, 'reiatsu,' Rukia called it, swirling around them like a shield.

And it wasn't just a trace of it, like when that hollow had left its energy on Orihime after dragging her out of harms way. It was like they were producing it.

That night, Harry took out a pair of black pants with a green robbed top. It was an outfit he'd gotten in Fiore. It revealed his Fairy Tail mark. He wore a black, long sleeved shirt underneath and fingerless gloves. He looked in the mirror and gave a small nod. It was an odd outfit, all things considering. He pulled out a scarf from his bag and wrapped it around his head and mouth and nose. This way he wouldn't be recognised. He cast letter magic on himself making the outfit disappear, then changed into his uniform. Just to test it, he changed back in a whirl of letter magic, then back into his uniform.

"Good." He nodded.

It worked. He summoned his sword, Reyearth into his hands and visualized the way he'd seen the energy around Ichigo's sword work. The same purifying feeling. If he could imitate the properties, he might be able to cleanse the hollows as well.

He took out Virgo's key.

"Open, gate of the maiden. Virgo."

Virgo glowed into existence.

"You called me, master?" she inquired.

"Yeah, I gathered some more information, and I might have a job for you soon." Harry admitted, "Right now I don't want anyone to recognise my identity when I fight, so I'm going to be wearing a mask. I know you call me 'master' anyways, but I need you to take extra care not to call me Harry when we fight next."  
"I understand, master." Virgo nodded.

"Also, I learned a bit more about those demon creatures. They're called hollows. See, every ghost here has this chain on their chest, it's called the 'chain of fate.' Once it disappears, the ghost turns into a hollow."  
Virgo's eyes widened,

"Those ghosts are people?"

"Yeah." Harry agreed, "The Shinigami actually purify them though and sent them on to the afterlife when they cut through their mask. I think I have a way of doing the same. Could you hold out your hands?" Harry asked.

Looking confused, Virgo obeyed.

Harry grabbed her shackled wrist and concentrated some of his own magic into the chains.

"It's different." Virgo murmured.

"That's…what a Shinigami's blade feels like. I think that if I can make my own sword imitate this feeling I can do the same. It's a tricky bit of magic. I had to work out the formula to get it to work first…but you should be able to cleans them, if I'm right." Harry looked grim, "And I have a feeling we might need to test this out soon."  
"You're worried you'll be attacked?" Virgo asked.

Harry shook his head,

"I'm pretty good at hiding my presence, so I shouldn't be drawing too much, if any attention from the hollows. But the people I'm around have been attacked already, and I don't want them to get hurt."  
Virgo smiled,

"Then I will help you. You can count on me, master."

"Thank you." Harry said, smiling warmly at her.

"Do you wish to punish me, master?"

Harry blanched,

"Uh, no."

The next day during lunch, Keigo and Mizuiro decided to go look for Ichigo. And of course, somehow Harry got dragged along with them. When Harry had enough, he felt out Ichigo's power and asked them,

"Did you check the roof?"

"The roof?" Keigo asked, "That's brilliant! But…how did you know Ichigo likes hanging out up there?"

"I didn't." Harry shrugged, "I just haven't been up there before and it kind of sounds cool. I wasn't allowed on the roof of my school in England, or the one in Scotland." He added.

They seemed to accept this answer and dragged Harry up there where Ichigo and Rukia were talking. Rukia was looking at a Juice box trying to figure out how it worked. Harry raised an eyebrow at her antics. Was the Soul Society that different from the living world?

Well, it wasn't like Harry had any room to talk. The wizarding world was so cut off from the rest of the world that he doubted many wizards knew how a juice box worked either…

"So, you're together again." Keigo said with a grin, approaching the two of them.

They turned to look at their little group.

"Huh, you're…Harry, right?" Ichigo asked, eyes landing on him.

"That's right." Harry nodded, "Harry Potter. And you're Kurosaki-kun, right?"

"Just Ichigo." He waved, "We're in the same class, and I've never been good with formalities."  
"In that case, just call me Harry. I'm not all that used to Japanese customs still. It's kind of weird how everyone seems to call me by my last name." Harry said, though he had a feeling Ichigo would have done that anyways.

"You know," Mizuiro said, "You and Rukia seem pretty chummy."

Ichigo rolled his eyes,

"Mizuiro, please. Does it really look like we're 'chummy'?"

Mizuiro blinked a few times,

"Maybe." He stepped forwards, "Well, to be honest you two do appear to be pretty close. Don't you think, Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"With all the sneaking around they're doing they're almost like star crossed lovers…or maybe they're just hiding some sort of mutual secret." Harry smirked internally when they both froze, "I bet Rukia is actually an alien sent here from a distant planet to convince Ichigo to fight evil aliens…or something like that." He ended jokingly, but had very much enjoyed their reactions.

"I'm an alien?" Rukia asked with a slight twitch of her lips, "To be honest, I think Ichigo would make a much better extra-terrestrial."

Harry chuckled slightly,

"I don't know; I've never seen anyone struggle with a straw like that who wasn't an alien. You want some help with that?"

Rukia smiled,

"Would you?" she handed him the box and Harry poked a hole into the box with the straw and handed it back to her, "Are you from abroad as well, Kuchiki-san? I only ask because it seems like you're suffering through culture shock like I am."

Rukia's shoulder's jerked, but she tried to nod,

"Yes, I'm Japanese but I grew up in a small country south of here."  
"Oh?" Harry said, "I guess that makes sense then. Least I don't feel so alone now."

Keigo pouted,

"No fair, Harry! You have Orihime, now you're trying to pick up Rukia!" he backed up and bumped into something…or rather someone.

Chad had somehow approached from behind him unnoticed.

"I'm not dating anyone." Harry rolled his eyes, "Hey, Chad, what's up?"

Harry stiffened slightly when he saw a cockatiel in a cage. There was some sort of strange energy coming from it. Like one of those ghosts…it wasn't a hollow though.

"Whoa, Chad. What happened to you?" Ichigo asked.

He was covered in bandages.

"Whoa, dude, you look messed up!" Keigo said not so delicately.

"I had a mishap." Chad said in his same monotone, "A steel beam fell on my head."  
"Steel beam?" Harry said slowly.

"Mm." Chad nodded, "My hand got hurt when a motorcyclist ran into me. The rider that hit me got banged up pretty bad. The force of the collision threw him off and he was nocked out. So, I picked the guy up and carried him to the hospital."  
Harry looked him over. He didn't seem to be exhuming any special power…so all that was raw, brute strength? Bloody hell.

"Well no wonder you were late to school." Keigo said sarcastically.

"The only thing I wonder is what exactly is your body made of?" Ichigo asked.

Chad set down the parakeet cage.

"Hey, so where did you get that bird?" Keigo asked.

Then, the bird began to speak,

"My name's Yuichi Shibata. It's nice to meet you."

That's when both Ichigo and Rukia seemed to notice the presence of the spirit that possessed the creature. Harry paid them no mind, but had a feeling they'd be performing a konso on the spirit later. The two whispered back and forth conspiratorially.

"That is amazing!" Keigo said, "My name is Keigo Asano. Can you say that? Ke-i-go A-sa-no." he said slowly.

"So where did you get this bird?" Harry asked Chad curiously. Wondering if there was something more to it. It seemed rather strange that Chad would be hit by a motorcycle right after being hit by a steel beam. It was too coincidental. Something was behind this.

"Someone." Chad paused for what felt like an eternity, and Harry was about to wonder if he was going to say anything more, "Gave me to him." He completed.

"Hold it!" Keigo shouted, "There you go again, getting lazy and cutting your story short. Come on! That's a bad habit you have, Chad. Now explain. Spill it."

Chad sat down cross legged in front of the bird cage.

"That was the whole story." He insisted.

"There you go. Just like you usually do!"

At this point Harry began to tune out Keigo's rant, then wondered if maybe he'd be fighting sooner than he thought he would…


	19. Chapter 19

**Nope. I do not own Harry Potter.**

**I don't own Bleach either.**

**I own a bottle of bleach, but that has nothing to do with anything.**

The next morning, Harry felt a strange bout of that same energy flare up and quickly changed into some normal street clothes. He cast a quick disillusionment charm and ran jumped onto the roof.

Roof hopping, as it turned out, was a lot quicker than running down the streets.

He ran at top speed, which was very fast, all things considering. He watched form the roof top when he saw Ichigo, a strange batch of ribbons surrounding him.

Harry raised an eyebrow, then realized what he was doing. He was tracking down that bird's reiatsu signature. But that would be really difficult…especially with how weak it was.

He was surprised when Ichigo actually found it, grabbing it in his hand.

"Got it, let's go." He said, rushing off.

Rukia was stunned a moment, then ran off behind him. Harry stealthily followed the two of them down the street and around the corner, when Chad appeared, carrying the bird.

Chad saw Ichigo, but took off in the opposite direction.

He was trying to keep the two of them out of danger, Harry reasoned.

"Hey, Chad!" Ichigo shouted, but it was no use.

"Ichigo." A weak voice said.

Ichigo turned to see a girl with black hair draped over her shoulders. She had a high reiatsu signature as well, Harry noticed.

"Karin?" Ichigo asked, "What are you doing here? You look really sick…"  
It was true; she did look sick. Her face was pale, and she was sweating profusely. She fell to her knees, obviously too weak to stand.

"Karin!?" Ichigo ran over to her.

"Ichigo," Rukia said, "Go, you need to get Karin home now so we'll know she'll be safe. I'll handle them."

Ichigo turned around to look at Rukia,

"What are you kidding me? I can't just leave you."

It was true, Harry thought. There was no way Rukia would be able to defeat the hollow as she was now.

"Just do as I say." Rukia said, "I know what would happen if we leave her here, "You'd be worrying about her when you fight the hollow. And that cannot happen here, no matter what."  
Ichigo looked back down at Karin worriedly.

"Go on, get moving, get her home." Rukia ordered, "And get back here quick."  
"Rukia, I hope you know…right now you don't have the strength to fight a hollow all by yourself." He said picking up Karin in his arms.

Harry smiled slightly, so Ichigo had noticed…

"Please…don't risk yourself for my sake." Ichigo said.

"Don't be stupid." Rukia said, then turned back with a smile on her face, "A veteran Shinigami never takes unnecessary chances with a hollow. Now go." She took off running in the direction Chad had gone.

Ichigo seemed to fight a short mental battle, before he picked Karin up and began running back to his house.

Harry followed after Rukia. She was slow, he noted. But he had a feeling that had more to do with her artificial body than anything else. He couldn't catch up to Chad, but she was keeping about the same pace as him, so he wasn't getting any farther away.

That was when Harry sensed the hollow. He summoned the sword into his hands, getting ready.

"Eeeh, you smell good." A growling voice said.

Rukia stopped, then looked around, trying to find the source. Harry tensed, getting ready to make his move.

The hollow materialized behind her.

"You smell, wonderful. Delicious…time to eat…your soul!"  
Rukia got out of the way with an impressive show of acrobatics, diving into and handspring and twisting in the air to land facing the monster.

"So, you're still alive, you're tougher than I thought."  
Time to make an appearance, Harry thought. He dropped the disillusionment charm and said,

"Obey they command! Gods of thunder, come forth."

He turned it into a purifying lightning that struck the hollow, the mask burst apart and Rukia looked up in amazement. The hollow vanished in a glow of light. But instead of going to the soul society, two big doors appeared, two giant skeletons on the front.

"The gates of hell." Rukia breathed, "They only open for the souls that have no means of being saved…"

Harry hadn't known that…but at least he knew that it wasn't his sword that had done something strange, to his knowledge.

"What?" Rukia tensed then saw Harry, wearing his mask, scarf ties around his head and battle outfit.

"Who are you? State your name and rank!"

"No rank." Harry said, "I'm not a Shinigami."

Rukia frowned,

"That's a Zanpakutou, you must be a Shinigami."

"Nope." Harry said, "I can just imitate the weapon's effects." He shrugged, "Now then, I really must be going. Things to do, people to meet…oh, once Ichigo comes, you should really send that bird spirit…thing on." Harry waved, then jumped down and performed another disillusionment charm on himself, running off.

Well, that was certainly grand.

The next day, Rukia wasn't in class. Harry's eyes would travel to her seat wondering what was happening. Could she be investigating him? He didn't think he'd left anything behind, and there wasn't anything he could think of that connected him to the bruise balm Rukia had taken from Orihime…

This was what he hated about secret identities, they made people paranoid.

During third period though, Rukia came into class with the same cutesy façade she seemed to think was endearing.

"Good morning everyone." She greeted.

"Oh, hey good morning, Rukia." Mizuiro greeted slyly.

"Ah! Looking lovely as always, Rukia." Keigo said in an attempt to flirt.

"This isn't like you, it's already third period." Mizuiro pointed out.

Rukia giggled,

"Sorry, something came up." She said, "By the way, Ichigo…may I steal you for a second?"

"Huh?" the guy in question asked, "What do you want? You want to talk, then let's do it here."

Rukia then punched him in the gut. Harry blinked a few times, well, that was bold…

"Oh Ichigo, you pour thing…I'd better get you to the nurse's office right away!" she dragged him out the door leaving some of the students to look at them oddly.

"She…just hit him, didn't she?" Mizuiro said.

"I didn't see a thing." Keigo said dreamily.

Harry shook his head,

"Not that we've established the fact that Keigo wouldn't notice a pretty girl committing a mugging right in front of him…Do you guys think Rukia's a bit…scary?"

"I liked your theory of her actually being an alien." Mizuiro added, "Though I'm pretty sure that only happens in manga."

Harry shrugged,

"Then what's your theory?"

Ichigo and Rukia didn't return for the whole third period, and Harry was getting a bit worried. They couldn't be having too much trouble with a hollow, right?

The bell rang, signalling the start of lunch.

"At last!" Orihime exclaimed, "Time for lunch."

"Geeze, Orihime. It's just lunch, it's not a big deal." Tatsuki said.

Orihime pouted and held up her pointer finger,

"How can you say that Tatsuki? Everyone knows that a healthy, red blooded high school girl comes to school for only one reason." She declared.

Harry chuckled at that.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, have a seat." Tatsuki said, pushing her desk up against Orihime's.

"So Tatsuki, what do you have for lunch today?" Orihime asked getting out a giant loaf of bread and a can of red bean paste.

Harry turned to Keigo who seemed to be talking about the super cool bird Chad had yesterday.

"The bird…is gone." Chad said.

"Aw…" Keigo complained, "What happened to it? It didn't die, did it?"

"No."

All the class gasped and Harry turned his head to see…Ichigo flying outside the window. Harry blinked a few times…no, it wasn't Ichigo's reiatsu. This was someone else, but…he scrunched his face trying to hone in on the energy. It felt weird.

"'Scuse me." He said, "This is the ninth-grade class, group three, right?"

He then opened the window and stood on the ledge.

"Yes." Harry nodded, and several people turned to look at Harry, who had answered the question as though people suddenly flying through windows was a normal everyday occurrence.

"Uh, Harry?" Keigo asked, "Why did you answer that?"

Harry just shot him a confused look,

"I thought this was a normal Japanese custom. Are you saying it's not?"

Several people shook their heads. Harry just shrugged it off and continued eating his lunch.

"How did you do that!? How did you get up here?" Tatsuki shouted at 'Ichigo.'

"What do you mean 'how?' I jumped up here. You saw it for yourself, right?" he said tilting his head.

"I bet he crawled in from the classroom next door." Someone reasoned.

"No way, he jumped up from the yard!"

"Did you see him do it?"

"Well, no, I didn't see it."

The not-Ichigo grinned full out. Then he began checking out all the girls in the class. His eyes fell on Orihime and he quickly made his way over to her.

"Hello pretty lady, I don't believe we've met. Would you do the honor of telling me your name?" he kissed the back of her hand.

"Gah!" Tatsuki cried, then wrestled him away from her, "Ichigo, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

This wasn't going to end well, Harry thought. And how could they actually think that was Ichigo? They acted completely different.

"That's not Ichigo, Tatsuki." He told the girl.

"Wha?" Tatsuki asked.

Not-Ichigo tilted his head back to get a look at Tatsuki,

"Hey, you're pretty cute yourself, now that I get a closer look at you."

Before he could do anything, Harry jumped out of his seat, and kicked Ichigo away from her. He grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back,

"I'm sorry about that, Tatsuki. I know you're well capable of handling this yourself. But he was getting annoying."

Tatsuki blinked a few times,

"That looked like…Aikido…but where did you learn that?"

"I told you before, didn't I?" Harry said, "I've studied various forms of martial arts. I said so when I first introduced myself to the class." Harry frowned, "Now who are you?"

"W-what do you mean? I'm Ichigo."

"Wrong answer." Harry said, not letting go of the lock he had him in, "You gonna tell me?"

The classroom door burst open and Rukia came in,

"What?" she asked.

"Rukia, where's Ichigo? This guy seems to be pretending to be him and he just tried to kiss Tatsuki after apparently jumping up three stories." Harry asked her, wondering what was going on.

"Oh, um…"  
Suddenly, Ichigo in his Shinigami garb came bursting in through the window. Harry had to stop himself from looking up and meeting his eyes.

Then the room filled with smoke.

Everyone passed out and Harry took this as his cue to 'pass out' as well, letting go of the not-Ichigo. What was with these people and memory charms?

The false memory was that Ichigo had attended class as usual when suddenly a man came in and decided to hypnotize them all…that was so random. And Harry couldn't believe people actually believed it…oh well.

It was a few days after the incident and Harry noticed that Tatsuki seemed to be acting nicer towards him for some reason. She and Orihime invited him along to see some sort of show, 'Spirit Hunter' or whatever. Harry wasn't particularly interested in that sort of stuff, but considering the fact that Tatsuki wasn't glaring at him for whatever reason and actually being nice, he decided to take her up on the offer.

Boy did he regret it…

Ichigo seemed to absolutely hate the whole thing too though. For all day in class people would come up to him and do this thing where they crossed their arms over their chest and said "Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha…"

Harry smiled in amusement at the orange haired boy's plight. He could understand Ichigo not liking a show about spirits when he knew the truth about them already.

And that was how Harry found himself outside an abandoned hospital along with a large crowd of people. A helicopter flew overhead and Harry wondered if whoever organized this might have gone just a little bit overboard.

"Good evening everyone!" the announcer greeted, his voice was amplified at least a hundred times over from the microphone in his hands, "This week's episode of 'Spirit Hunter' is brought to you live, at an abandoned hospital, in the town of Karakura where the tortured screams of the dead can be heard echoing through the halls!"  
Harry snickered inwardly, these guys were being a little dramatic…

A lady next to the main announcer spoke next,

"Who knows what horrifying sights we'll witness here, this evening."

"And now, folks, let's give him a warm welcome. This century's premiere spiritualist, and messenger from heeelll!" he drawled out excitedly, "Mister Don Kanoji!"  
He put his hand in the air up towards the helicopter in the sky, as though he was presenting it. Then Harry saw a man in a cape jump off the helicopter.

"The spirits are always with you!" he shouted down at them, Harry smacked his hand up against his head.

"What's wrong?" Tatsuki asked Harry curiously.

Harry put on a smile,

"Uh…nothing." He said shaking his head, then lightened up and forced a smile onto his face and cheered with the rest of the crowd. Tatsuki looked skeptical for a moment, but then joined in cheering along with him.

Harry sighed internally, this was going to be a long night…

Still, Don Kanoji seemed to have some reiatsu. Maybe he really would put on a good show. Harry could hope.

Don Kanoji released a parachute and landed on the ground, right around where the announcer was, and unclipped the chute expertly. It was rolled off stage as he greeted them,

"And how is everyone tonight?" he asked, hands on hips and striking a lame pose, he then spread his hands out as though preparing to embrace someone in a big hug, "Hold onto your seats my babies, it's time to hear the spirits cry!"

The crowd went absolutely wild.

"So tell us," the announcer girl said into her microphone, "What do you think of this place? Well?"

Harry actually was curious himself. He could vaguely sense something in the hospital, but he wasn't quite sure what it is…it was a strange mixture of a regular soul and a hollow.

"The stench of the spirit world hangs in the air around us." Don Kanoji said, "I'd have to say that…"  
"Smells like bad spirits!" the crowd completed for him, then broke into more cheers.

Don Kanoji then crossed his arms over his chest and cried out, "Bwa Ha Ha Ha Ha!"

Oh, Harry thought, that's where they got it from…The crowd then echoed the gesture, all accept Ichigo, who Harry noticed had actually come despite having said he wouldn't go at school.

Guess someone must have dragged him into it. Maybe Rukia? She was close by.

Then smoke appeared over the stage, completely obstructing his vision of Don Kanoji.

"And we're cutting to commercial."

The crowd was ushered around the hospital by some of the crew.

"This way folks to the Spiritual Purification Location."  
Orihime spotted Ichigo then began jogging up to him. Harry followed after her.  
"Ichigo!" she said.

"Hm?" he asked turning around.

"I'm, uh…sorry for the other day."  
"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked confused.

"It's just that Tatsuki was telling me you really can't stand TV shows like this one." She said embarrassedly, "And I had no idea…"  
"That's cool, it's really no big deal…Hey Harry."  
"Hey, Ichigo." Harry greeted, "I thought you weren't going to come. Did Rukia drag you here?"

Ichigo smiled,

"Good guess, but now. My father and my little sister go crazy for Spirit Hunter."

"And that's why you're here?" Orihime asked, looking over at where Ichigo had pointed.

There was a man with black hair and a beard, a girl with short brown hair in a skirt, probably in elementary school, and another girl who looked the same age, ignoring them as the other two did the Spirit Hunter laugh. She was the same one that Ichigo had saved…so she was his sister…

"I couldn't just let them come alone, you know?" Ichigo shrugged casually.

"Wow, you've got such a good heart, Ichigo." Orihime said, and Harry could tell that she'd started to see him in a new light. Harry knew she had been a bit scared of him before.

Ichigo just glanced over at her,

"Why? Isn't that normal?"  
"Um…oh yeah, that's normal, mm hm, very normal." She said quickly.

Harry just shook his head,

"You don't seem to much like these sorts of shows though. Not your thing? Or is it something else?"

Ichigo flinched slightly,

"Uh…"

But he was cut off by Tatsuki who shouted from the crowd,  
"Hey, Orihime, Harry, hurry up or we're going to move on without you!"  
"Oh, hold on, Tatsuki!" Orihime shouted back, "See ya." She said, running into the crowd.

Harry shook his head,

"Well, see ya, Ichigo." Harry waved lazily, then walked towards Tatsuki, vaguely hearing Rukia say,

"That boy's a sharp one."

"You think he's onto us?" Ichigo whispered.


	20. Chapter 20

**I do not own Harry Potter or Bleach**

The crowd gathered, and suddenly Harry tensed at a show of energy. The spirit before seemed to have gotten angry.

A horrible cry broke through the night and Harry's eyes scanned the building uncertainly. He noticed that Orihime and Tatsuki were looking at each other worriedly.

Chad probably sensed it too, he'd gained some reiatsu over the past few days, though it was only starting to be noticeable.

Harry wondered if Ichigo realized that his friends were gaining spiritual powers…probably not.

A man materialized in front of the hospital, a spirit with a chain on his chest. But there was part of a hole there too. Like he was part hollow and part spirit.

That wasn't good, Harry thought. But he seemed stable enough, as long as no one messed with it he should be alright…not that Harry had much hope for that.

Slowly, and stealthily, Harry moved to the back of the crowd and into the forest, just in time to see Don Kanoji thrust his cane into the partially opened hole. Harry grabbed his gate key.

"Open, gate of the maiden." He murmured.

Virgo materialized.

"You called master?"

"Keep your voice down, Virgo." Harry said cautiously, "There's a spirit that's been hollofied. I think Ichigo will handle it, but I want you to help him out in any way you can. Be discrete."

"I will do my best, master." She said, then a glowing circle appeared under her feat and she dug into the earth.

Harry turned back to the crowd and walked back over to Tatsuki and Orihime who hadn't even noticed his absence.

The spirit began to scream as the cane twisted inside the hole of his chest.

"There it is, ladies and gentlemen, the super spirit cane, an unusual move this early in the game!

Ichigo jumped over the barricades and began running towards him,

"Come on, knock it off!"

Harry shook his head, he'd probably end up regretting that decision later…And then of course, security tackled him to the ground.

"Over here, we have to get you out of your body!" Rukia called, putting on that red glove with a skull on it, only to be attacked by the security men as well.

Then the spirit began to shiver and writhe, letting out horrible, tortured screams. Electricity danced around him, the chains that held him down broke.

"Oh dead…" Harry said out loud in a whisper.

Boom! Ichigo was thrust out of his body by a cane. Harry watched with shock. It was someone he'd never seen before, in Japanese wooden sandals, a men's yukata with a green hiyori, and a green and white stripped hat.

He was waving a white fan in front of his face, and accompanied by a large black man with glasses, huge arms crossed over his chest, mustache shading his lower lip.

"Who did that?" Ichigo asked, looking up at the two and obviously recognising them.

"Hello." The man in the hat greeted.

"Mister Hat n' clogs?" Ichigo wondered.

Harry's lip twitched, it seemed that Ichigo had given him a nickname…

"Don't just stand there like a lump, get to work already."

Ichigo stiffened,

"R-right…" he ran off while the security men were left holding Ichigo's body.

"Hey, what's wrong?" One of the men asked.

Then, Mister Hat n' clogs' accomplice went over to them and grabbed Ichigo, lugging him over his shoulder,

"I'll take it from here." Then he walked off.

Harry just watched the scene and sweat dropped. These people…were not very discrete.

"Just stop it!" Ichigo cried, then pushed Don Kanoji back.

The crowd went wild, believing Kanoji to be fighting some sort of evil spirit.

"Holy moly, Don Kanoji was just thrown through the air!" the announcer narrated.

"What's wrong with you, kid!?" Kanoji glared at Ichigo, who's arms were crossed over his chest.

"Well then, I guess you can see me too."

Kanoji moved his hands into what Harry supposed was supposed to look like a battle stance, but looked more like a pose. Ugh, this guy was like another Lockheart!

"Of course, I can," Kanoji huffed, "I'm this century's premier spiritualist…oh wait, I get it. You're dead but you're a fan aren't you." His pose relaxed and Ichigo looked sick.

Harry couldn't help the smirk that formed on his own face. Pour Ichigo.

Ichigo grabbed Kanoji by the collar,

"Don't make me kill you." He growled.

Thankfully, there wasn't a murder that night. A hollow's scream broke through the crowds' unsettled murmurs; it had materialized on the roof. Harry looked up at it dully.

"Virgo, keep it occupied up there. But be discrete." He'd found that Virgo could normally hear his orders from wherever she was.

Suddenly, blood appeared on the hollow's body, it had been attacked by chains, but of course, the audience could see those chains.

Virgo managed to stay out of view though. Kanoji and Ichigo ran into the building and Harry noticed Hat n' clogs looking on in surprise, then his eyes narrowed, gaining a calculating edge.

Harry vaguely wondered who he was, really.

Then the chains cut through the mask, but not before Ichigo and Kanoji had made it onto the roof. Virgo came into view briefly, but vanished into a glow of light. Harry clucked his tongue, it seemed that people thought she had been a spirit.

Oh well, she'd done really well, all things considering.

"Thank you, Virgo." Harry murmured, then turned around to go back and talk with Orihime and Tatsuki, playing oblivious once again.

Of course, that wouldn't be the last of the Don Kanoji incident. Harry was called into the principal's office the next day, along with Orihime, Tatsuki, Ichigo, Mizuiro, Chad, and Keigo.

"Outrageous!" the gym teacher scolded, "Don't you see the damage you kids have done!? This ridiculous show was broadcasted on national television yesterday! Just look." He held a remote control in his hands and clicked a button, turning on a TV screen in the office.

Images of Ichigo being tackled by security, Kanoji 'bwa ha haing,' and Ruikia in the crowd trying to get to Ichigo.

"With two of our students for all the world to see!"

Harry raised his hand,

"Uh, you said 'National television' so, only everyone in Japan saw."

Tatsuki rolled her eyes,

"I think you're missing the point, Harry. Why are we even here?" she demanded, "We had nothing to do with Ichigo's actions on live television."  
"Rukia and Ichigo," the man ignored her, "Never in the history of this school has a student done something so serious!"  
Harry's lips twitched as he noticed how unconcerned the principal and their homeroom teacher was in light of these events.

"Mister Kagine?" Tatsuki said, "I can understand why you're angry with Rukia and Ichigo for acting like a bunch of stupid idiots. By why are the rest of us here? We had nothing to do with that."

"It's true." Harry said, "Tatsuki, Orihime and I were near the back of the crowd. And even if you say we could have stopped them, there's no way we would have been able to get to them on time. And it's not like we're psychic and know what they might have been planning."  
A couple of people in the room winced at the word 'psychic.'

"Great, thanks a lot!" Ichigo hissed, "I'll remember this the next time you need someone to bail you out!"  
Harry shrugged and Tatsuki stuck out her tongue at him.

Harry sighed when he noticed Kagine-sensei's expression and realizing the man wasn't going to be letting them go anytime soon, decided he'd have to try a different tactic…

"To be honest sir, it wasn't Ichigo's fault, either way. There was this man, see. He told Ichigo that…that…" Harry trailed off, "I'm sorry, I should have known he was lying!"  
Everyone watched Harry with bewilderment.

"What…what is it, what's wrong?" Mister Kagine asked seriously.

"The man told Ichigo that Kanoji-san was going to be hurt really badly…Ichigo went out there to save him! But…I'm afraid it was all a prank. I'm sorry, Ichigo, I found out later and I should have told you."

Mister Kagine looked very serious,

"Can you describe this man?" he asked Harry.

Harry gave a nod,

"I think so; his eyes were a bit shadowed because of his hat. But the hat was very distinct. It was white with green stripes."  
Rukia and Ichigo froze up, looking at Harry disbelievingly.

"He had blond hair, and wore these Japanese wooden sandals…what do you call those again?" he tapped a finger to his chin uncertainly.

"Geta?" Mister Kagine suggested.

"Yes, that's the word." Harry nodded, "Thank you, sensei. He also had a mustache that didn't match the color of his hair." Harry paled dramatically, "Do you think he was a hentai, sensei?"

Now Rukia looked like she was trying to hold in laughter, she quickly pretended to cough.

"Er…I don't know. You should have reported this earlier, Potter-kun."  
Harry looked down in shame,  
"I suppose I should have, sensei…but truthfully, I was ashamed of myself for not having done anything to stop Ichigo…if I had tried harder to convince him…"  
"Ah, no, it's fine, Potter-kun, uh, you're all excused."

As soon as they were out the door Tatsuki clapped him on the back,

"I didn't think you had it in you to lie like that. Good job, Harry."

"Ah, thanks." Harry said, "I don't really like lying though, so…Rukia-san, please smack Ichigo over the head the next time you think he's going to do something stupid."

"Okay!" Rukia said, then smacked Ichigo over the head.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Ichigo shouted.

Rukia just looked at him innocently,

"Well, Harry-kun said to smack you over the head."  
Ichigo just scowled, then looked at Harry,

"Where did you get that description from anyways?"

Harry shrugged,

"I actually did see a suspicious looking guy like that in the crowd. He didn't really do anything…but I thought I'd best let him take the fall for it anyways."

Ichigo sweat dropped,

"You're…actually kind of scary, you know that?"

That's about when Rukia's phone went off.

"Oh, Ichigo, can I talk to you for a second in private?" she asked him sweetly.

Harry raised an eyebrow at them, but just shrugged as Rukia curtseyed and said,

"Would you guys excuse us for just one minute?"

Before she could get an answer the two ran off.

"Well that's weird." Keigo said still staring at their retreating forms.

"I'm pretty sure they're just going off for a snogging session." Harry supplied lightly, mentally laughing at the idea.

"Snogging?" Keigo asked blinking his eyes.

"Eh?" Harry blinked a few times, "Did I not say that right? In Britain we say snogging…um, making out?"

The group of friends blinked a few times looking at Harry with amazement.

"You really do have a dark side, don't you?" Chad said in his monotone voice.

Harry shrugged,

"I just enjoy causing trouble. Plus, it's fun teasing them about it and watch their reactions. Whatever their doing, they're doing it in secret and they don't want us to know about it. So if we accuse them of snogging then they can't deny it because then they'd have to admit to what they're actually doing."

Keigo took a step away from him,

"Scary."

After school, their rankings were posted up outside of the classroom. Harry went over to check it out and was pleased to see that he was ranked number five. His Japanese mark was still sitting at an eighty-seven percent, so it had dragged his other subjects down substantially. In biology and chemistry, he was probably the best in the school though.

"Third in the class?" Tatsuki asked noting where Orihime's name was, "That's pretty amazing, Orihime."

"This sucks." Michiru, a girl who hung out with the two often said, "Orihime has brains and boobs, it's just not fair."

"If it makes you feel better, she's a terrible cook." Tatsuki said.

"Mm, I don't know," Harry interjected, "I rather enjoy her cooking."  
Tatsuki turned green,

"You're inhuman."

Harry shrugged,

"I think she's rather inventive. I normally go off of recipes but I think it's pretty cool that Orihime makes her own."

Keigo was now looking at the board,

"Let the girls get their high scores, at least none of our gang embarrassed us by making it into the top fifty, right Mizuiro?"

Mizuiro pointed to a name on the board,

"Take another look."

Keigo looked at number twenty-three.

"W-w-what!? Ichigo is ranked number twenty-three!?" he shouted, then turned to Ichigo, "You, cheater, there's no way you could have possibly scored that high!"

"Shut up." Ichigo said blandly, "I score high on tests because I study for them, you should try it sometime."  
"Ah ha!" Keigo said pointing at Ichigo accusingly, "So that's what you were doing all those nights…when I was asking you to hang out! You always said you were too busy, but the truth is you were studying like a total nerd!" tears fell down his face, "Oh no! I'm friends with a nerd! Maybe you need some thick nerd glasses like these pal."

Were did he get those from? Harry wondered amusedly.

"No thanks." Ichigo said back handing him with his fist.

"It is a bit of a surprise to learn you really study." Mizuiro commented.

"My hair gets me enough abuse. I'm not gonna be an academic loser on top of that." Ichigo said rolling his eyes.

Keigo seemed to sober at that,

"Good point…Sorry I ragged on ya." Then he looked to chad, elbowing him in a friendly manner, "Well at least you wouldn't do something embarrassing like score in the top fifty, right Chad old pal?"

Chad grunted and pointed to the board. He was ranked number eleven.

Mizuiro and Keigo let out a couple of screams and ran off.

"I'm completely horrified, I had no idea I was hanging out with a bunch of complete nerds and brainiacs! I'm through with all of you!" Keigo shouted, before running off.

Harry laughed slightly at their bizarre behaviour,

"Those two sure are funny."

Ichigo eyed him out of the corner of his eye,

"I see you made number five. You're pretty smart too, aren't you?"

Harry shrugged,

"I still have trouble in Japanese. I think that's what pulled my mark down. Not to mention my written Japanese is worse than my spoken. A lot of the teachers don't seem to mind when it's on things like Biology or Chemistry, but I'm still a bit off when it comes to Japanese class." He sighed.

He then looked back up at the board, "I guess it's lucky for Keigo that no one here was in the number one spot. I think he would have had a seizure…Amita Ishida?" Harry guessed, having trouble with the given name.

"That's Uryu. Uryu Ishida." Orihime said.

Harry pouted,  
"See, I can't figure out kanji for the life of me."

"Who's that?" Ichigo wondered.

"He's in our class, isn't he?" Harry asked Orihime, "I vaguely remember him."

He was the other person who had a strange reiatsu presence to him…he figured that since he wasn't really doing anything though that he wouldn't bother him.

"You'll find that our Ichigo has difficulty remembering people's faces and the names that go with them." Tatsuki said, rolling her eyes, "Come on, Orihime, let's go."

She dragged her away.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted, running down the halls, "Come here, I need you!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him off.

"She must need him bad." Harry said with a wise nod as they ran away, leaving him and Chad alone.

"Now you sound like a perverted old man." Chad grunted.

Harry shrugged, he was technically a lot older than when he started out his journey. If he was actually aging he'd be about seventeen by now, probably. Not that he really thought about it all that much.

The next day after class, Ichigo stormed through the halls of the school, muttering something under his breath.

"Rough night?" Harry asked, causing Ichigo to jump out of his skin.

"H-Harry, where did you come from?" he looked around the halls wildly.

Harry shrugged,

"That is the question."

Ichigo blinked a few times,

"A-and what do you mean, 'rough night?'" he asked panicked.

"Well," Harry said, tilting back and forth on the balls of his feet, "I've noticed that you and Rukia hang out a lot…"  
Ichigo swallowed hard.

"And last time in the hall it looked like she needed you bad." Harry smirked.

"Uh…what?" Ichigo asked confused.

Harry shrugged his shoulders,  
"Use protection."

Ichigo blushed beat red,

"T-t-that's not it at all!" he shouted and Harry nearly burst out laughing.

"Oh?" he asked slyly, "Well if that's not it, then you're gonna have to come up with a pretty good story otherwise."

Ichigo paused, then blinked a few times,

"Y-you jerk, you know that's not it!"  
Harry snickered in confirmation,

"So, whatcha doin' walking around all grumbly? I thought I heard you say Uryu's name. You guys get into some sort of fight?"

Ichigo blinked a few times,

"Uh…no I was just…he has such a cool name."

Harry mentally rolled his eyes at the lame excuse,  
"I think so too, in fact sometimes I repeat it to myself because it's so cool. Uryu Ishida. Uryu Ishida…You know; I think he's in the home handicrafts club with Orihime."  
"The what!?" he shouted.

Harry snorted,

"Come on." He said, dragging him back towards their classroom.

They both peeked around the door to see Michiru approaching him with an ugly looking pink doll with a tare in it. She handed it to Uryu who flung it into the air, opened his sewing kit, threaded the needle, then faster than Harry thought possible, sewed the doll back together.

He had impressive dexterity, and sewing things like that took precision work. He'd make a good wizard. Wand work, ruins and other forms of magic all required precision like that. Uryu tossed the doll back to Michiru who thanked him,

"Wow, it's almost as good as new! Thanks so much, Uryu."

Uryu opened his book up and didn't look at her,

"It's alright, don't mention it." He adjusted his glasses, "In fact, don't talk to me anymore at all."

"O-oh…I'll see you later then." Michiru said awkwardly, hugging her stuffy to her stomach.

"And there you have it." Harry shrugged, looking at Ichigo, "That's Uryu Ishida." His eyes narrowed at Ichigo, "I know you two are probably going to have a scuffle later, but don't be to hard on him."  
Ichigo raised an eyebrow,  
"And why not?"

Harry shrugged,

"It seems to me, that his actions and words are contradictory. He's a nice person, and helps when he can, like you just saw. But he tried to distance himself from others. He's isolated, and bitter for some reason. Just keep that in mind, Ichigo."

Ichigo blinked, looking at Harry again,

"You…are much smarter than people give you credit for; you know that?"

Harry laughed slightly,

"That's kind of you to say. I'm sure I'll see you later though, Ichigo."

He turned around and left the school, then waited, leaning up against the outside wall. He had a feeling Ichigo was going to try something, and he just wanted to see if he could learn a bit more from Ichigo and Uryu's interaction.

The two left the school. Ichigo was following behind Uryu but Harry had no doubt that the blue-black haired, glasses wearing boy knew that he had a stalker.

He doubted Uryu knew about him though.

Uryu was climbing up the stairs that had been built up a hill, he stopped at the top.

"Do you intend to follow me all the way home, Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Ichigo stepped out of his hiding place from behind a wall of concrete, casually. His bag held up by two fingers and slung over his back.

"Huh, guess I'm not as sneaky as I thought I was. So when did you first notice me?"

"From the time you saw me in the classroom. You've been ducking in and out of shadows behind me ever since." He said with sharp eyes looking over his shoulder and down at the orange haired boy.  
"Huh, that long, huh?" Ichigo asked casually, "Now that's impressive."

"The careless way you let your reiatsu leak out, even a monkey would have noticed it."  
Needless to say that seemed to piss of Ichigo.

"Amateur stuff." Uryu dismissed.

"What did you say?" Ichigo growled.

"You heard me." Uryu said challengingly, "It's clear to me that you lack even the basic ability to detect those around you with high reiatsu. How else can you explain the fact that you weren't even aware of my existence until today?"

"Yeah, sorry about that." Ichigo said, not sounding sorry at all, "It's just that I've always been really bad at remembering names and faces."

"That's not what I mean." Uryu said, finally turning around to look at Ichigo, "There's a difference between you and me." He adjusted his glasses, "When you first started at this school I could sense your high reiatsu. If you were any good you would have sensed mine. I even know the day in mid-may when you became a Shinigami. And, I know Rukia Kuchiki's true identity."  
Harry's eye twitched, it wasn't as though it was that difficult to figure out, but he was curious as to how Uryu worked it out in comparison to how he had done it."

As though to answer Harry's silent questions, a bunch of white ribbons appeared. Harry had seen them before when Ichigo had tracked that boy. It seemed like a very useful ability, he wondered if he might be able to pull that off as well…

"Spirit ribbons." Ichigo murmured.

"For a change, you're right. Spirit ribbons are the physical manifestation of reiatsu in the atmosphere. And…" he moved quickly, to any normal person it would have looked like he had disappeared. But Harry wasn't a normal person, and he saw Uryu move down to where Ichigo was before he could even react. Harry shook his head, he knew that he couldn't move that fast, but he could definitely have blocked that if it had been an attack.

He thought a bit on this, it would be good to have some sort of speed technique…he bet these Shinigami had them. Uryu seemed to have one…Harry shook his head, just what was Uryu anyways?

Uryu grabbed the air in front of Ichigo, a red ribbon appeared.

"What is that?" Ichigo growled.

"This is your spirit ribbon." he tugged at the ribbon and broke it, "You didn't know that? Shinigami spirit ribbons are a different color than normal spirit ribbons." He let go of the piece of spirit ribbon which dissolved into the air like a smoke, "Why don't we play a little game, Ichigo Kurosaki. Let's have a duel to figure out which one of us is stronger. The Quincy or the Shinigami."

Harry assumed that a 'Quincy' was what Uryu was called. At least he had a name for it now…

"I'll show you just how unnecessary Shinigami are in this world."

Don't do it, Ichigo, Harry urged mentally.

"So when is this duel between us supposed to take place?"

Harry face palmed. That idiot.

"Right now." Uryu stated.

Ichigo let out a sigh,

"That idea's ridiculous!" Ichigo scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why do you say that?" Uryu said looking up at him.

"Because it would be a waste of time and I've got nothing to prove to you." Ichigo scowled.

Harry cheered mentally. At least Ichigo had some sense in that thick head of his.

"And I've never heard about Quincies before and I don't know what you have against Shinigami but it has nothing to do with me." He said looking away from him slightly.

"What a surprise." Uryu sneered, "You're afraid to fight."  
Harry tensed slightly, wondering what Ichigo would do about his goading.

"Forget trying to goad me into it, besides, I'd mop the floor with you." Ichigo said then turned around to leave.

Uryu wasn't having that though,

"Oh, now I get it. You don't have permission." He adjusted his glasses and Ichigo stopped in his tracks, "I forgot. Your Shinigami powers came from Rukia. You're actually just a substitute Shinigami. That probably means that on your own you can't as so much as lift a finger. You have to have her permission to duel, don't you?"

Harry's lips twitched slightly, knowing that, though Ichigo had been doing so well up until now, he had his limits.

"That does it." Ichigo growled, "Alright." He turned around then zipped open his bag, "If a duel's what you want, then a duel's what you're gonna get."

He pulled out a…stuffed animal? Had Ichigo lost it? Harry wondered, then noticed that the stuffed animal had a familiar presence about it.

"It's about time Ichigo!" the lion plush toy shouted.

Uryu's eyes narrowed at the toy in confusion.

"Why'd you leave me in that stupid bag all day, you trying to kill me!? I don't get what Rukia ever says, don't you ever do that to me again!" he pointed at Ichigo accusingly.

Ichigo just glared at it, though he always seemed to be glaring anyways,

"Cough it up." He ordered and the stuffed animal looked panicked.

"W-wait a sec! Forget what I said about the bag, you can put me back there…" But he was cut off by Ichigo putting his hand in it's mouth.

At last, Ichigo pulled out a small, round green pill.

"Ah ha!" he exclaimed, then looked at it with slight disgust, and wiped it on his shirt. Then he popped it into his mouth and swallowed. Ichigo was pushed out of his own body while the strange soul-pill thing took over.

"Kon, you better get back." Ichigo ordered, "I'm about to give Mister Handicraft some stitches to sew."  
"Huh?" Kon looked between the two, paled, then grabbed Ichigo's things and the stuffed lion, "I'll be over here." He said running away as fast as he could.

"So, how does your little duel work?" Ichigo asked, "Tell me the rules and let's get to it."

Uryu reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a strange looking round cookie like thing.  
"We'll use this to begin." He said, "It'll help."

Ichigo looked confused,

"Eh? And what is that?" he asked.

"Bait." Uryu smirked.

Bait for what? Harry wondered wearily, he couldn't mean bait for the hollows…could he?

"To bring in hollows." Uryu said, confirming Harry's fears, "If I crush this, hollows will start gathering here quickly."

"What the hell!?" Ichigo shouted with shock, obviously not having planned for this either.

"The rules are simple. Whoever kills the most hollows in the span of twenty-four hours will be the winner. Simple isn't it? Even you can understand how that works."

But Ichigo looked very angry, and not due to the remark on his intelligence,  
"That won't work. What are you thinking? Doing that would put everyone who lives here in danger! This battle's just between us."

"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Uryu's eyes narrowed, "Believe me, no one is going to get hurt."  
Harry snorted, right, it was all fun and games really.

"Because I know that I'll be able to wipe out every single hollow that shows up here."

Ichigo glared at him, but there was fear there too.

"If you had more confidence in your ability to protect people from hollows, you wouldn't be worried and you would accept this challenge."

The hollow bait was crushed between his fingers.

"Fuck!" Harry hissed.

"Who's there!" Uryu shouted, turning to where Harry was.

Harry cursed mentally, then transformed into his vigilante outfit. He removed the mask, but kept the scarf. It was good enough to hide his identity with anyways.

"You!" Ichigo shouted.

"You know him?" Uryu frowned.

"He…Rukia saw him slay a hollow…but…who are you?" Ichigo asked.

Too bad their questions were overwhelmed by the sound of rumbling in the distance. A black hole appeared in the sky and a hollow came out, letting out a wild roar. Uryu summoned up a blue bow of energy and shot an energy arrow of the same color at the creature, tearing apart it's mask.

Harry froze, eyes widened. That weapon…it wasn't purifying hollows…

"Your weapon is destroying the soul." Harry said out loud, trying his best to disguise his voice.

"What?" Ichigo asked, looking at Uryu.

But the boy in question didn't say anything. Harry held out Virgo's key.

"Open, gate of the maiden. Virgo."

Ichigo and Uryu jumped back when Virgo appeared. And really, a maid with purple hair materializing out of nowhere was a bit startling.

"Punishment, master?"

Harry face palmed,

"Um, no…We have a bit of a situation here Virgo. Hollows are appearing all over town. Get them."

"P-punishment?" Ichigo asked bug eyed.  
Harry rolled his eyes,

"You two sure are innocent, aren't you? Come on, Virgo!" He jumped into the air, the Celes ruins boosting his speed slightly as he took off.

Ichigo and Uryu just watched them leave, looking completely dumbfounded.


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't own Bleach. I don't own Harry Potter.**

**I just have folders full of fanfiction that I should probably publish. Won't lie to you, this isn't my most favourite fanfic ever. I wrote this many years back, but it's nice to see how far along I've come. I think that publishing it has allowed me to appreciate that more.**

**And, as the story goes on, I can actually see my writing improve! I can't get over how cool that is.**

**I actually am a writer in real life. My roots come from Fanfiction and I'm quite proud of that. **

**I love writing. Always have. It's really cool to find a site where other people love writing too (^_^)**

Harry ran off down the street, slaying hollow after hollow. He was getting a bit worried about their numbers. Could something so small have really lured so many hollows there? He felt a familiar reiatsu and realized that it was Rukia.

He ran off down the street,

"Handle the ones here, then come find me." Harry told Virgo, "I sense someone I know is in trouble."

"Yes, master." Virgo said, then used her chains to quickly cut through the hollows.

Harry ran off down the street. He turned several corners and found Rukia who had jumped out of the way of her own rebounding blast. She was still weak, it seemed. Even after two months in that Gigai of hers, she still wasn't doing too well.

Harry jumped up and sliced through the hollow's mask from behind. The creature disappeared in a glow.

"You!" Rukia shouted.

Harry gave a small nod,

"Nice to see you again."

"You aren't wearing your mask." She noted.

Harry shrugged,

"I thought it was too much."

"Who are you?"

Harry looked up to see Uryu approaching.

"You wield a sword like a Shinigami." He said, eyes narrowed, "But your spirit ribbon is green. I've never seen anything like that before."

Harry actually had no idea his spirit ribbon was green. Rukia's eyes narrowed at Harry.

"This isn't exactly the time for questions, you know."

"I think now is the perfect time." The Quincy frowned.

"Did one of you lure the hollows out?" she asked looking between them.

Harry scoffed,

"Ask Brainiac over there." Harry pointed, "It was his bright idea. Starting a contest between a Quincy and a Shinigami. Oh yeah, brilliant."

Uryu scowled,  
"I have no intention of letting any innocent bystanders die. Ichigo may run out of strength during the battle, but even if he does, I will protect the citizens of this town. Then, while the Shinigami stays by and watches, I alone will kill the hollows." That's when Harry noticed that Uryu's fingers were bleeding as he clutched his hands into fists, causing blood to drip down to the pavement, "If I can't accomplish that, then this whole battle is meaningless!"

"I hope you mean it." Rukia glared at him, then back at Harry, "And I don't know what your goal is here…"  
A hollow materialized behind them, but Harry didn't turn around like the others. The hollow was promptly destroyed by Ichigo.

"So I found you guys." Ichigo said.

"Ichigo." Rukia exclaimed.

Uryu materialized his bow as Ichigo held out his sword.

"You better get ready, Uryu Ishida." Ichigo snarled, "'Cause I'm gonna beat the hell out of ya."

Uryu was silent, then drew his bow back as a hollow appeared behind Ichigo.

"Oh no you don't!" Ichigo said and stood in front of the hollow. Uryu's eyes widened as his arrow was released. Ichigo turned around and sliced the arrow, then cut the hollow in half.

Harry rolled his eyes at the display.

"Virgo, you nearby?" he asked.

Virgo appeared before him in a blur, hand on her chest, bowing.

"Did you have any trouble?" Harry asked her.

"No, master. They were all cleansed." Virgo said, eyes still closed.

"Good." Harry nodded.

"That's the maid on the roof of the hospital who saved Don Kanoji!" Ichigo realized.

"Virgo is rather memorable, isn't she?" Harry grinned.

"So, you ordered her to help?" Rukia realized, looking Harry over again, "Just…who are you?"

Harry turned his head towards the sky,

"Look up." He said pointing.

Everyone did so, then paled drastically, looking horrified. There was a giant black crack that was forming in the sky.

"The hollows…" Uryu said, "They're gathering."

"Somehow," Harry began, "I don't think your bait could have done this. Something else is at play here…"

Uryu rushed off up the stairs that led up a small hill.

"Where are you going?" Ichigo demanded, "There are too many of them."  
Uryu turned to glare at Ichigo,

"If you don't have the guts, just stay back here and watch."

"Huh?" Ichigo demanded.

Harry stepped forwards, then, quick as a flash moved up to Uryu and slapped him. Uryu stumbled back, then clumsily fell down on his butt.

"Do not let pride get in the way of judgement." Harry said in a soft, yet commanding voice, "Your attitude is childish. You aren't just fighting for yourself anymore. You can't be selfish. Not with so many lives on the line."

Uryu glared at him, and Harry rolled his eyes,

"I suppose this is a mistake you'll just have to make for yourself. Go ahead. Charge ahead like an idiot." Harry turned, then walked back over to Ichigo and Rukia.

Uryu walked up the stairs and drew his bow and shot at the hoard. He took out four hollows.

"Down here, filthy hollows!" he called, "I Uryu Ishida, the last of the Quincies challenge you!"

"Is he really the last one?" Ichigo whispered.

"It was thought they all became extinct two hundred years ago." Rukia said crossing her arms, then looked down with shame, "Well, not exactly. They were systematically killed by the Shinigami…. Shinigami were referred to by other names back then, Balancers, or regulators."  
"What did they balance?" Ichigo asked.

"The number of souls in the human world and in the Soul Society does not change by much as time goes by. They just trade places between the two worlds." She explained, "It's the job of Shinigami to regulate that. To keep the balance." She frowned, "It worked, until the Quincies disrupted the equation. The Quincies didn't cleanse the hollows. They destroyed them completely. This meant that any soul that left the Soul Society for the human world would never return. If things had continued that way, the balance between the two worlds would have collapsed." She looked down with shame, "It would have meant the apocalypse."

Ichigo gulped. Harry stayed silent, simply listening, trying to get a better understanding of the situation. It was difficult, because everyone involved seemed to be at fault. There was no good or bad here…or maybe they were just all bad.

"There were countless meetings between the Quincies and the Shinigami, but to no avail. The Quincies refused to listen to reason. Finally, there was no choice. The order was given for the Quincies annihilation. Many have accused the Shinigami of arrogance for their actions."

Harry sighed, thinking back to the dark history of the Wizarding world. From what he was able to discern, anyone who was practicing witchcraft or wizardry or accused of practicing it was burned at the stake during the sixteen hundreds, and even further back, and later into the seventeen hundreds and eighteen hundreds. In Africa there were still places that practiced these atrocious deeds.

"I think I understand that." Harry said, "My people were hunted too."  
"And just who are your people?" Rukia frowned, looking back over at Harry.

He smiled slightly,

"I'll give you a hint." He said, "People used to be quite fond of burning us at the stake."

Ichigo frowned, trying to make some sort of connection, when it clicked,

"You're a witch!?"

Harry snorted,

"No, I'm a wizard. 'Witch' is a term only given to women."

"A Wizard." Rukia said slowly, "That's impossible. Magic doesn't exist." She denied.

"Oh?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow, a magic circle appeared at his feet, charging the air with electricity.

Rukia's mouth fell open.

"First Shinigami, now witches…" Ichigo mumbled.

"I'm a wizard." Harry repeated, then gestured to Virgo who had remained silent all this time, "And Virgo here is a celestial spirit. She's Virgo of the Zodiac. I'm contracted to her through magic."  
Virgo gave a small bow.

"Now," Harry said, "I think you're wrong about Uryu. Witches and Wizards have a very bloody history, but it's not like I hate all mundanes just because they tried to perform genocide long ago. I think Uryu does have a grudge against Shinigami, but there's another reason behind that hatred." Harry shrugged, taking a step back over to the wall and leaning up against it.

Ichigo clenched his teeth, then ran off in the direction that Uryu had ran in.

Rukia looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow,

"Aren't you going to go with him?"

Harry shook his head,

"No. I think this is something that needs to be resolved between them. If I think they can't handle it, I'll step in though."

Rukia looked him over analytically,

"Are you really a wizard?"

Harry nodded,

"I'm a practitioner of the Celes word magic, and the Celes sword magic. I'm not hiding my magic right now so you can feel it. It's different from Reiatsu, isn't it?"  
Rukia's lips thinned,

"It is…but that doesn't mean magic is real..."

Harry shrugged,

"I guess not. Believe what you want. I'm here and I'm here to help. Isn't that enough?"

Rukia nodded,

"For now it's fine."

They both froze, then looked to the sky. The black crack had grown bigger and Harry could now see into a black voice. Chalk white hands grabbed the sides and tugged.

"That can't be good." Harry murmured.

"It's not…I-it can't be." Rukia's eyes were the picture of horror, "Menos Grande…Until now I haven't seen one before, accept in illustrations and in textbooks…"

"Well, whoopee for super hollows." Harry snorted, it didn't look like it was more powerful than Zereff's demon, lullaby. He could probably take it out… "I can beat it." Harry said, "But…" he frowned, "Do you want me to interfere?"  
"What?" Rukia turned to Harry wide eyed.

Harry shrugged,

"I normally stay out of Hollow-Shinigami conflict. I'm a wizard. The only reason I even allow myself to fight hollows at all is because I'm capable of using my magic to mimic the purification properties of a Zanpakutou."

"Mimic?" Rukia asked looking down at the sword in his hands curiously, "How do you…mimic it?"

Harry sighed, trying to think how best to explain that one,

"It's like…you know how you plug something into an electrical socket? Well, not all plugs are the same, the ones in other countries need a specific socket. But if you use a converter, you can charge your laptop. That's what I do with Reyearth. I charge my sword with magic, and convert it into purifying Reiatsu through a special array of ruins I invented."

Rukia looked him over, and Harry could tell she was confused,  
"Sounds complicated."

Harry nodded,

"I'm the first to ever come up with such a method. I only did it because of my arrival here though. Back home there weren't as many…hollows. And the ones we found we just drove off with the patronus charm. We didn't kill them or destroy them."

Well, dementors weren't really hollows…or maybe they were, they basically felt the same, though the hollow aura was contained.

Rukia looked back up at the sky.

"You can really defeat that thing?"

"I can." Harry stated simply.

"Let's just find Ichigo for now." She said, as they ran towards the park where Uryu and Ichigo were, not far off from the stairs.

"Ichigo!" Rukia said when he came into view.

Ichigo let out a cry and ran off towards the enormous hollow.

"Ichigo, stop!" she called out, "You two aren't enough to go against the Menos Grande!" She stopped in her tracks when Mister Hat n' clogs blocked their paths.

Harry didn't fight it or anything. He had a feeling this guy had a plan. He was willing to disagree though if he didn't like it.

"Urahara, are you trying to get Ichigo killed out there?" Rukia accused.

But he just lifted two fingers and Harry saw a strange vibration travel through the air.

"Of course not, just watch. There is a method to my madness." He said calmly with a smile on his face and his eyes shaded.

Rukia fell to her knees.

"This is a battle that must be fought." He said.

Rukia couldn't move, and Harry was thinking about intervening by then.

"This is…a binding spell…" she murmured.

"It is for Ichigo, and…for you too Rukia." He glanced over at Harry, "You aren't going to do anything?"

Harry shrugged,  
"I have an idea as to what you're doing. Ichigo is constantly releasing reiatsu. Yet he hasn't gotten tired yet, even when fighting. Not even a little…like a tap that's dripping, but there's so much more that could be released." He looked him straight in the eye, "You created an extreme situation to release all that pressure. Am I correct?"

Urahara, as Harry found out his name was, gave a nod,

"You're rather insightful, aren't you? I don't suppose you'd be willing to take off that scarf."

Harry smiled,

"So, you haven't guessed my identity yet. I'm actually a bit surprised."

Virgo approached from behind looking between them confused,

"Who is this, master?" she asked.

"The names Kisuke Urahara." He looked at Harry, "But you might already know that."

"I just know your name's Urahara." Harry shrugged, "And that Ichigo calls you hat n' clogs. Kind of a spiffy nickname…think he has one for me?"

Urahara laughed, then took out a white fan out of nowhere,

"I could come up with a nickname for you if you want."

Harry thought about this,

"I reserve the right to turn it down, but go ahead."

Harry's attention was drawn back to Ichigo who ran at top speed at the hollow, he looked like he was aiming for it's legs. He slashed with his sword, only to be kicked back.

"You sure he's gonna be okay?"

"Probably." Urahara shrugged, "How about…Scarfie?"

"Scarfie?" Harry asked.

"Your nickname." He elaborated.

"That's the best you can come up with?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Fine." Urahara frowned, "How about…Ninja boy?"

Harry shrugged,

"Better than Scarfie, I guess…but why Ninja boy?"

"Because you look like a ninja, with the outfit and the scarf all wrapped around your face and stuff." He grinned.

"Huh, I wasn't even thinking about that when I put the outfit on." He admitted.

Uryu launched an arrow at the Menos, it was barely nicked.

"Damnit!" he growled with frustration, "So Ichigo, can you get up?"

Ichigo let out a groan, then pushed himself up off the ground then gave a small salute,

"Sure, I'm good as new." Had blood not started to fall down his face, that would have sounded a lot more convincing.

"That was the dumbest charge I think I've ever seen!" Uryu shouted, "What were you thinking, did you actually think that would work?"

"Huh?" Ichigo tilted his head, "Well I figured, if I just kept chopping away at him like a giant tree, I'd eventually bring him down to the point where I could wack him over the head."  
Harry sweat dropped at this explanation,

"Um, I suddenly find myself with less confidence in your methods." He told Urahara who's eye was twitching slightly at Ichigo's explanation.

"I can't believe you're acting like this is some kind of little kid's game." Uryu said, crouching down to Ichigo's level, "Now get up and let's try a different strategy." He placed a hand on Ichigo's Zanpakutou and his bow grew to an enormous size.

Urahara smiled, and Harry could see some relief playing across his face.

Ichigo caught a glimpse of the sword and goggled,

"What did you do, Uryu? How did your bow get so big?"

"Just be quiet and listen." Uryu hissed, "I think there actually might be a way we can defeat this thing! Are you ready to do it?"

The Menos Grande was getting closer now, taking a step out into the human world. Harry watched with confusion as Uryu took some cloth from his bag and tied Ichigo's Zanpakutou to his head.

Harry face palmed, then began to laugh,

"These guys sure are amusing. But if they don't come up with something, or that hollow starts causing some major damage, I think I'm going to step in. Hope you don't mind."

Urahara sighed,

"I was thinking about doing the same."  
Harry nodded, at least he was taking responsibility for his actions…to an extent.

"Now we are ready to fight that thing!" Uryu declared.

Ichigo let go of his sword and looked down at Uryu with a deadpanned expression,

"You aren't serious, this won't work."

The bow got smaller when he let go and Uryu turned his head, causing the sword to swing with it.

"Quiet! Do what I say, you've gotta release all of your spirit energy at once while we're connected!" Uryu explained, "That way I should be able to harness the power and shoot an enormous arrow. It's the best way to use all of your energy. Right now you're just wasting it!"

Throughout the whole triad Ichigo was just staring at him blankly.

"Well you don't have to be so insulting about it."

Uryu let out a moan of frustration,

"Quit taking things so personally and just release that energy already!"

"How do I do that?" Ichigo asked dumbly.

Uryu was alarmed at the blunt question and shot him a weary look,  
"You mean to tell me you don't know?" he got closer to Ichigo, staring him right in the eyes, "What's been your method for battling with the hollows all this time!?"

Ichigo's eyes traveled to the side thoughtfully,

"Just instinct."

Uryu backed away, eyebrow twitching,

"Just instinct? But that's impossible…"  
"I never did really understand that stuff." Ichigo admitted, "I figured my reiatsu was pretty much always at it's maximum level."

There was a long stretch of silence, when the hollow's footsteps interrupted them. The Menos was standing really close now. It looked down at them, a blood red orb of energy appeared at it's mouth, glowing and crackling.

It was going to fire.

"This is it." Urahara breathed.

Harry gave a small nod, but eyed Urahara wearily, "Like I said before, if I sense he can't handle it."

"I won't stop you." Urahara confirmed.

Rukia looked at Harry gratefully, but when she turned back to the battle she looked horrified.

Ichigo grabbed the sword off of Uryu's head.

"Ichigo!" Uryu shouted, but he was already far away, right up near the hollow.

The hollow looked down at Ichigo, then launched its attack. Ichigo held up his sword as a shield and the blast came down, full force. He was struggling, Harry could tell, but his reiatsu was also building up. Ichigo let out a cry, then swung his sword. Blue light traveled up the hollow in a line.

Harry raised an eyebrow. The pressure of the attack caused a huge blast of wind and blue energy to burst out into a pulse.

"That's more than I thought." Harry admitted, he let his sword fade way in a blur of word magic. Urahara saw the display and appeared intrigued,

"What was that just now?" he asked.

"I'm sure Rukia already figured it out." Harry said, "Celes word magic."

"Celes word magic?" Urahara repeated, "You mean…like actual magic?"

"Maybe." Harry said, releasing a bit of his magic energy. Urahara's eyes widened when he sensed it.

"That's not reiatsu." He observed.

The Menos Grande began to retreat, drawing the sky over itself like a blanket. Returning for where it once came from.

The sky closed up, leaving Ichigo to stand there, panting. He held up his hands into a peace sign,

"I win!" he shouted out to the sky.

He then looked at the Quincy and smirked,

"Well, what's the matter Uryu?" Ichigo asked, "Don't have anything to say? I just saved your butt, and cleaned up your mess too. It seems like…you could at least say thank you," he teetered back and forth, "Or congratulations or something…" he fell to the ground, "That's weird…" it came out as a rasp, "I can't move…"

The Zanpakutou in his hands began to glow.

"Master!" Virgo said alertly.

"I see it." Harry confirmed.

His reiatsu was going out of control. Forcefully getting Ichigo to release all his energy like that meant his reiatsu was now out of balance.

Harry ran forwards,

"Virgo, make sure his pulse stays steady." Harry ordered, then lifted his scarf slightly and bit his thumb until it bled, he drew a symbol on Ichigo's face.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Stay calm." Harry said, "Your reiatsu is out of balance now. I'm just trying to give you a bit of equilibrium." He pressed two fingers against his forehead and Harry narrowed his eyes, he filtered a bit of reiatsu, then added a bit more where necessary.

Gradually, the energy bursts calmed, and Ichigo blinked, moved his fingers, then his hand.

"I can move again…what did you do?"

"I made it easier for your reiatsu to flow and balanced it out a little bit better." Harry explained, but Ichigo looked confused. Eventually the orange haired boy seemed to come to a decision,

"Well, I don't understand, but thanks."

"Not a problem." Harry said.

"Well, that was really interesting, Ninja boy." Urahara said clapping, "Most healers would have trouble with something like that…You wouldn't by chance be that same person who created that bruise balm that Rukia brought me to analyze, would you?"

Harry let out a sigh,

"You know, there's a reason I cover my face, I'm trying not to let people know my identity." He ranted, "Alright, you're gonna figure it out eventually, it seems…But can you please do me a solid and not tell the Soul Society about me?"

"And why's that?" Urahara asked curiously.

Harry rolled his eyebrows,

"Isn't it obvious? I don't particularly want a part of the whole Shinigami-hollow conflict. I just interfere when I see someone being terrorized by them. I do not want a whole repeat of the Salem Witch trials thank you very much."

Urahara raised an eyebrow,

"So you're a witch then?"

"Wizard." Harry corrected, "'Witch' is a term reserved for girls. My business is pretty complicated, and I really don't want anyone interfering. I have no beef with the Soul Society, I'm not doing anything to disrupt the balance, to my knowledge, and I plan on staying out of their way as long as they stay out of mine." Harry frowned.

Urahara waved the white fan of his in front of his face,

"I find myself intrigued by you, Ninja boy. But that seems fair. I won't tell the Soul Society. Now, you planning on taking that scarf off?"

Harry shrugged,

"Maybe later, when you call on me…and don't give me that look, I know you will." Harry rolled his eyes, he summoned his sword, then, "Accio, bag."

The leather bag that he carried all his things in suddenly came flying through a dark blue portal and into his hands. He'd modified the spell not long ago. He riffled through his bag, then pulled out a small mirror.

"Here." He tossed it at Urahara, "Just say the word 'Raven' and you'll be able to call me in that mirror. You might need to wait a minute for me to pick up. It's kind of like a cell phone." Harry paused, "And if I call you it will glow a light green color, all you have to do is say the word 'Answer' and, well, that's how you answer it."

Urahara looked at the mirror curiously,

"Sure thing…you wouldn't happen to have something else magical I might be able to experiment with, would you?"

Harry thought about this a while,

"I guess, but why?" he asked suspiciously.

"Curiosity." Urahara shrugged.

Harry rolled his eyes,

"Fine." He reached into his bag and pulled out a light pen he'd bought in Fiore, he tossed it at Urahara, "That's a light pen. Basically, it allows you to write in mid air. It's simple magic." He strapped the bag over his shoulders, then took out his key.

"Thank you for your help, Virgo. Close gate." Virgo bowed, then disappeared into a golden light.

"Now that was interesting…that girl wasn't human was she?" Urahara reasoned.

"That was Virgo." Harry said coolly, "She's one of the twelve zodiac spirits. She's contracted to me. I'll be seeing you later, Urahara-san." He waved.

"See you, Raven."

Harry laughed slightly,

"That my new name?"

Urahara shrugged,

"Beats Ninja boy."

Harry drew on his word magic, allowing it to surround him, then teleported away.


	22. Chapter 22

**I still don't own Harry Potter or Bleach.**

As soon as Harry dropped his bag, he transformed back into his uniform and fell onto his bed, exhausted.

It took a bit of willpower to get up again and put away his uniform and change into his pyjamas. He drifted off to sleep quickly.

The next day, after Harry had eaten breakfast, Orihime knocked at his door. It was a little odd. Normally he had to go over and make sure she was awake.

"You're up early today." Harry commented.

"Mm hm, well I can't help it." She said in her same bubbly voice, "I mean, summer vacation is just around the corner and when I think about that, I just have to wake up!"  
Harry chuckled a bit at that,

"That makes sense. I'm kind of excited for summer vacation too. Do you have any plans?" he asked her curiously.

"Yeah, there's this fireworks festival in August, and Tatsuki and a bunch of us are going. Did you want to come with us?"

"Sure." Harry agreed, "That sounds like a lot of fun. I've never actually seen fireworks before." He admitted.

Orihime's eyes went wide,

"Never? Then you really need to come with us! I can't believe you've never seen fireworks before!"  
Harry shrugged, walking down the stairs after her, they got onto the sidewalk and began their trek to school.

"Did they not have fireworks in Britain?"

Harry shook his head,

"No, they did. I just wasn't allowed to go." He admitted, he felt a bit hesitant about telling her about his former home life. She seemed to catch on though and look at him with concern,

"Harry?"

Harry broke away from his daze,

"Sorry." He said sheepishly, "I got lost in thought a moment." He apologized.

"No, it's okay. I do that a lot too." Orihime said, but she looked worried.

Harry looked down,

"Orihime…sorry. I'm not trying to worry you or anything. My home life before moving here is a bit of a sore spot though."  
"Oh." Orihime said with realization, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."  
"It's fine, you didn't bring it up, really." Harry said scratching the back of his head, trying to find a better way of clearing this up, "It's in the past now. And as for the future, I really want to go see fireworks with you this summer."  
Orihime smiled brightly,

"Then that's what we'll do." She promised.

Classes passed by relatively quick. Second period, they had Phys ed. At the end of class, Harry and Mizuiro found themselves doing nearly all the work as Ichigo and Keigo seemed to be goofing off.

Keigo seemed to think that Ichigo was checking out Orihime, though Harry knew he was just watching the strange sceptical of Orihime dancing around with champagne bottles. Where on earth did she get those?

Mizuiro eventually grew frustrated with their behaviour and threw a soccer ball at their heads, forcing them to come help them out.

Ichigo carried the basket of soccer balls into the school storage shed, while Keigo and Ichigo helped with pylons.

"There, that does it." Ichigo said.

"Thanks a lot, Ichigo." Mizuiro said, as Ichigo had been the one to carry the really heavy stuff. He then turned to Keigo, "Hey, have you seen Uryu anywhere?"

Harry had to resist the urge to shift nervously on the spot and keep his face blank.

"He's not in school today." Mizuiro added.

"Yeah…" Keigo said as though recalling something, "Yesterday I saw him in the park. He was talking to himself and running around and acting like a weirdo."

Harry noticed that Ichigo was sweating bullets,

"Ichigo, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

Ichigo stiffened,

"What? Why would I know anything about that? It's not like Uryu and I are close. That's ridiculous!" he said rather quickly.

Harry just smirked,

"Just checking."

Man was it fun to watch Ichigo squirm.

"Hey, now that you mentioned it," Keigo said, "Maybe Uryu's in some sort of drama class and he was rehearsing for a play. Come to think of it, there were four other weird people there too. Those must have been his co-stars."

Harry looked at Ichigo, it seemed the orange-haired wonder had dodged yet another bullet.

Uryu arrived at class during the third period. He stood at the open door awkwardly as the teacher looked up from her book and straight at him with surprise at his tardiness,

"Uryu!" she exclaimed, "What in the world happened to you?"

He had bandages all over his hands, trying to cover up his wounds. He adjusted his glasses with his middle finger,

"I um…fell down the stairs." He said.

There was a long, deadpanned silence. Harry couldn't help it. He slammed his head down on the desk with disbelief, causing Ichigo to jump and look at him funny.

Harry groaned and looked up,

"That…that was just…no, I'm not gonna say what that was. Any words would not do it justice for what an obvious excuse that was." Harry decided.

Ichigo just shook his head, but didn't comment.

Uryu took a seat after a skeptical look from their teacher and opened up his textbook.

Lunch came, and Keigo came twirling up over to Ichigo, literally.

"Ichigo! Ready to go have lunch, big guy?"

Harry grabbed his lunch bag and approached the two of them.

"I guess I'm ready. But how about I invite someone new to join us?" he asked carelessly.

Keigo perked up,

"Oh…you want to invite the new girl, I bet. Go mister."

"He's gonna invite Uryu." Harry said ignoring him.

Ichigo froze, and turned to look at Harry,

"How did you…"

Harry smiled innocently and shrugged his shoulders. Ichigo shot him a glare,

"I swear, one day I will understand you, Harry."

Harry chuckled,

"Doubt it." He sang, "But I always welcome people to give it a shot. It's so much fun watching them go crazy trying to figure it out."

Ichigo approached Uryu while Keigo looked like the world was about to end, not that Harry understood why. As Keigo went on a rant, Harry ignored him in favour of watching Uryu and Ichigo's interaction.

"Hey, Uryu, wanna come have lunch with me?"

"No thanks." Uryu said, getting up from his desk.

"Oh come on, it's no big deal." Ichigo said, arms crossed, "Besides, Asano's buying."  
"I'm buying!?" Keigo shrieked.

Harry rolled his eyes.

"You don't need to do that, Keigo." Harry reached into his backpack, "It just so happens that I packed an extra lunch today." He shot Ichigo another innocent grin.

Uryu adjusted his glasses, which reflected the light. And Ichigo just looked at Harry stupidly,

"How did you…I swear I'm gonna figure you out one day, Harry."

Harry laughed,

"Why, my dear Ichigo, I have no idea what you could mean."

The five boys found themselves sitting in silence on the roof, eating. Everyone but Harry and Uryu were eating the school store bread. Uryu took a bite out of the home-made bento and his eyes widened.  
"This is really good."

"Thank you." Harry said, smiling slightly.

"It is?" Ichigo asked, then grabbed some of the fried chicken out of the dish and blinked a few times, "Hey, it is very good. Where did you learn to cook like that, Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"It's kind of a long story."

Ichigo's mouth twitched,

"You know…when you say that it kind of just makes me want to know more…come to think about it, I don't think any of us know anything about you."

Harry sighed,

"Alright, I'll give you a bit of a low down. I used to live in a place called Little Whining, it's in Surrey." He explained, "I lived with my aunt and uncle and neither of them were particularly fond of me. After my mother and father were killed I guess I was some sort of burden to them…"  
Ichigo froze, his eyes widened. Uryu shifted uncomfortably.

"Thankfully, I got a scholarship to the same boarding school my parents had attended. One of my teachers there had a knack for medicine, that's where I sort of found a bit of an interest in the subject. Too bad he hated my guts because he had this stupid grudge against my father." Harry scowled, "But someone else found me one day and asked me if I wanted to travel. I figured it was an opportunity to get away from all that and…well, here I am."

There was a long bout of silence when suddenly Keigo jumped on Harry drawing him into a hug, tears falling down his face,

"Harry! I had no idea! If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, you can just come to your Keigo-Niisan, he'll beat up any bullies that might be after you and share his lunch and everything."

"Keigo, cut it out!" Harry said, pushing him away, "I'm not crying. And you're the ones that asked…" Harry ran a hand through his hair, "Honestly, it's like everyone is asking lately…or maybe it's just my imagination…"

"Sounds to me that people just want to get to know you better, Potter-kun." Uryu said adjusting his glasses, "I think that's normal. When you're around someone long enough you generally want to know more about them."  
Harry blinked a few times looking at him,  
"I see…I'm not calling anyone 'Niisan' though." Harry said shooting Keigo a look.

Keigo pouted,

"Aw, you don't mean that."

"Why would I even call you that anyways?" Harry argued.

"Well," Mizuiro said, "You are kind of small, and cute. Girls dig the cute younger brother type, you know."

And Harry had a feeling he was speaking from experience. It was true though. Harry was short for his age. He stood at about the same height as Orihime, and wasn't that just a little sad?

"I'd hardly call him the little brother type." Ichigo said eyeing Harry darkly, "I'd say he's more a yandere. Acts cute but is secretly evil."

"I don't act cute." Harry denied, "I'm sarcastic and generally pessimistic about any and every situation."

"That's the part you're denying?" Uryu blanched, "Not the secretly evil part?"

Harry smiled sweetly,

"Of course, I'm not evil, Ishida-kun, what a suggestion!"

"He totally paused before saying that." Ichigo murmured under his breath.

That night, Harry lay in bed, dreaming about his life at the Dursleys. Dudley was chasing him again. Then the scene shifted to Hogwarts, Dumbledore was giving him a disappointed look.

"You should have saved Cedric…" he whispered.

Harry felt as though cold metal had been plunged through his heart. The scene changed to second year when he had become an outcast because it had been discovered that he could talk to snakes.

Then suddenly, his senses were overwhelmed by a strange pressure.

What was that? He wondered. He woke up sweating, then remembered where he was.

It was Ichigo's reiatsu! And it seemed he was battling someone, another Shinigami who was far stronger than him.

Harry's eyes narrowed, he transformed into his outfit and grabbed his bag full.

He ran off into the night, casting a silent disillusionment charm on himself. There was a massive clash of reiatsu that seemed to be getting closer and closer…Ichigo's power shot through the roof and then…it just stopped.

Harry froze, arriving just in time to see Rukia walking off through a door with two men he didn't recognise. She looked at Ichigo with sorrowful eyes, then Harry revealed himself and her eyes widened. Harry gave a slight nod and so much hope filled her eyes. He would save Ichigo.

Harry turned Ichigo over and noticed he was bleeding out.

"I…"  
"Don't talk." Harry ordered.

He summoned his wand in an array of words, then cast a diagnostic over him and grimaced at the mental report.

Major wounds first, he thought. He let his wand hover over the giant gash in his gut.

"Vulnera Sanentur." It was a spell he'd only seen Madam Pomfrey perform once, but low and behold, the wound began to close.

Harry riffled through his bag and pulled out two different potions,

"Drink this." Harry said, putting the glass vial to his lips and tilting his head up.

Ichigo drank it, though he was clearly having trouble as the potion dripped down his lips and onto his chin. It was blood-replenisher.

He scanned Ichigo over again, then healed the wound over his shoulder,

"Vulnera Sanentur." He incanted and the wound knitted together.

He had some cracked ribs. Harry got out another vial with an eyedropper.

"Open your mouth again." Harry ordered.

Ichigo did as he was told and Harry dropped two drops into his mouth. Harry gave a small nod when he noticed he was breathing easier.

It was raining out, and Harry wasn't liking the looks of things. There were footsteps approaching from behind.

"Urahara-san, I take it you were watching?" Harry asked getting out another vial of potion.

"That's some impressive work you're doing." Urahara commented, "Uryu's over there. He's lost some blood too."

Harry looked up, sure enough Uryu was slightly hidden by the bush. Harry mentally reprimanded himself. Sure Uryu's reiatsu was weak, but he should have felt it.

Harry shook himself from his stupor. Ichigo would be fine for now, but just in case.

"Don't move him just yet." He told Urahara, "He's got a bit of blood in his gut. It's being contained, but I don't want you to move him. I'm just going to check on Uryu quickly. Hopefully his wounds aren't as bad."

He moved over to where Uryu was laying. Thankfully he wasn't as bad as Ichigo. With some quick spell work and a blood-replenisher, he was good to go. Harry then moved back to Ichigo. Urahara was holding an umbrella over him, trying to keep him dry.

Harry started working on the Shinigami again.

"Can I move now?" Ichigo asked tiredly.

"No." Harry said firmly, then took out yet another potion, "Open your mouth."  
Ichigo sighed, then did as told. He swallowed up some more potion and wrinkled his nose,

"Nasty." He choked.

"Impressive." Urahara said, "You just healed up some major injuries that would have killed any normal person within seconds. Even with the Shinigami healing arts it would have taken him days to recover, maybe even weeks.

"Yes, quite impressive indeed." Harry looked up to see a black cat with glowing yellow eyes. It seemed to have been the one talking.

"Thank you." Harry said, then scanned Ichigo over again.

Ichigo however started freaking out,

"Did that cat just talk!? What the hell!"

"Ichigo, calm down." Harry said, his wand glowing, "Talking cats are normal."

Even Urahara was giving him a strange look now, but oddly enough it was the cat that spoke,

"That's a new one. I don't think anyone's reacted to me like that before."

Harry looked up at the two of them curiously,

"Well, Ichigo will probably take a few days to make a full recovery. Two to three days' tops." He let out a yawn, "I'm kind of tired…So, you guys gonna take Ichigo or something?"

"Hey, you can't just hand me off like a package! And why the hell are you not freaking out!? There's a freaking talking cat!"

Harry shrugged,

"She's not really a cat. And I've already seen that before."  
"She?" Urahara asked.

"She feels like a girl-cat." Harry shrugged, "Though she speaks like a man, I guess that's new."

"Oh, I like this one, Kisuke." The cat seemed to grin.

Harry looked at the cat curiously,

"So, I'm assuming we're gonna go on a grand mission to rescue the princess, right?"

Urahara nodded,

"That's the plan."  
"The wha?" Ichigo interjected.

"Keep up, Ichigo." Harry rolled his eyes, "We're gonna assemble a rescue party and save Rukia from the Soul Society…Am I missing anything? Oh, right." Harry hit his hand with a balled fist, "First off, we need to have a training montage."

The black cat laughed out right at this,

"Okay, I _really_ like you. Kisuke, I'm keeping him."

"I see." Harry nodded, "You will be the wise sensei that knows weird things that no one questions and then turns out to also be kick-ass…So, what's your name, kick-ass-sensei?"

The cat laughed again, and Urahara laughed along with her.

"My name is Yoruichi Shihoen." She introduced.

"Nice to meet you." Harry gave a slight bow, "Urahara-san calls me Raven, but…I like to hide my identity. I'll tell you though if you give me a training montage."

Urahara snickered,

"Careful, Raven. Yoruichi's a hard-core sensei." He waved a fan in front of his face, "Her training is utter hell."

Harry smiled at that,

"I think I can do it…after all, I survived Erza's training." He shivered, "And that involved being covered in snakes while dodging one thousand swords…and I am not challenging you to top that!"  
The cat smiled,

"Oh, seems like a challenge…"

"I'm gonna go check on Ishida-san." He said, then walked over to where Uryu lay. His wounds weren't so bad, and it looked like he'd regained consciousness. He was sitting up now, the rain making his hair stick to his face.

"How are you feeling?" Harry asked him, "Any pain?"

"No, I'm fine." He said, "You even healed my hands…"

Harry shrugged,

"You were injured."

He stood up and let out a sigh.

"You leaving?" Harry asked.

"I have something to do." He said determinedly, then walked away.

Urahara tried to stop him and offered a place to stay at his shop to heal and rest. But was turned down. Uryu, it seemed had his own idea of a training montage.

"See ya." Harry waved, "I've gotta head back home."

"Interesting…so you won't be staying with us?" Urahara asked.

Harry just shook his head,

"Sorry, but I have school tomorrow. Last day and all. See you later, Urahara-san, Kick-ass-sensei." He waved, then disappeared in a cascade of ruins.


	23. Chapter 23

**So, it was pointed out to me that the line breaks I was putting in weren't appearing after I published them. Uh…sorry about that.**

**So, I'm experimenting with some different line breaks. Please bear with me a bit.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail**

Ichigo seemed to be in a daze when he arrived at school the next day. Rukia's desk was gone, and no one remembered her due to the memory wipe the Shinigami had pulled off. Of course those with high reiatsu weren't effected…

Harry caught Ichigo staring at Uryu's chair every now and then. He could understand. Uryu might be the only one, in Ichigo's mind who would remember Rukia.

"Alright, students." The teacher said ending the day, "I only have one assignment for you over the summer. Everyone come back here in one piece in September. Class dismissed."

All the students seemed to cheer, getting up and talking to their friends. But Ichigo was still in a daze. Harry got up from his seat and walked over to him. He loved to make people uncomfortable…but right now he needed to comfort…wasn't that odd?

"Hey." Harry said and Ichigo looked up.

"You aren't about to say something ominous or ask me weird questions again, will you?" he asked half-heartedly.

Harry just stared at him,

"I suck at comfort." He said, "Normally I'm the one who makes people uncomfortable. But…" he let out a sigh, "There is hope, you know."

Ichigo sneered,

"What are you blabbering on about now."

"She's not dead yet."

Ichigo looked startled, there was a length of silence then,

"Harry, I know that you seem to know strange things all the time, but…you can't possibly know about…"  
"Rukia?"

He froze in his spot, looking at Harry wide eyed.

"I know." Harry said, "That's why I'm telling you. She's not dead yet."

"Harry…just…who are you exactly?"

Harry gave him a small half-smile,

"You're going to find out soon." He said walking away from Ichigo's desk.

"H-hey wait!"

But Harry had already left out the classroom door. And when Ichigo would follow after him, he would find that he had vanished.

….

0000000000000000

….

"Hello!" Harry said walking into the shop in his vigilante outfit, "Oh Mister Hat n' Clogs!"

A black cat came walking into the room and sat down, tail curled around her feet.

"Are you ready then?" she asked him seriously.

Harry nodded,

"Quiet. There are a few things I wish to ask you, actually."

"And I have many things to ask you." The black cat bowed her head.

Harry grinned,

"Well, you know how Urahara-san is dying to know who I am under this scarf?"  
"I am." Yoruichi agreed, "It's quite amusing watching him torture himself over it."

Harry snickered,

"That was part of the plan. See, I know I'm gonna have to tell everyone eventually. Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, they all know who I am. They just haven't connected me, with the masked me yet. Although I did give Ichigo a pretty big hint earlier today." Harry deadpanned, "But somehow, I don't think he's caught on. So, you're gonna be training me, right?"

"I will." Yoruichi said with a grin.

"Where's Ichigo and Urahara?" Harry asked.

"The basement." Yoruichi said.

"Can you keep a secret?"

"I can."  
"My name is Harry Potter. I'm a transfer student in Ichigo's class at Karakura High School. It's very nice to meet you, kick-ass-sensei."

Yoruichi blinked owlishly a few times, then let out a laugh,

"That's it, I'm keeping you, kid."

"I like you too." Harry said returning the sentiment, "Please make sure you rub it in everyone's face that you know who I am and they don't."

"That was the plan." Yoruichi said seriously, "When do you plan on revealing yourself?"

"The day we travel to the Soul Society." Harry answered, "Which gives us ten days of fun…well, you know, other than training."

"So what do you want to get stronger in? Out of curiosity."

Harry hummed,

"I want to get faster. I also want to better improve on my hand to hand."

"We'll have to spar so I can see where you're at. Are those your weakest areas?" Yoruichi asked curiously.

"I'd say I'm pretty awful when it comes to speed, I've always thought that there were a whole load of things I could have prevented if I had only been faster…my hand to hand isn't that bad now though. Grey helped me with that…"

"Alright, follow me." She gestured with her tail.

She led him over to the back room. It was empty, all accept for a small wooden square, a trap door. Yoruichi gestured to it.

"You want me to open it?"

"Yes. Beneath this shop is a training room that Kisuke built. Ichigo is down their right now along with Tessai training him."

"Oh, alright." Harry shrugged, then opened up the trap door. Yoruichi jumped down, while Harry grabbed the ladder and began his descent.

"Wow!" Harry breathed, "Who knew there was a place like this underneath Urahara-san's shop?"

"Finally, a good reaction!"

Harry turned and realized he'd made it to the bottom, jumped off to see Urahara standing there, fan waving in front of his own face, an amused grin on his face.

"You like it?" Urahara asked.

Harry looked around, it looked like a desolate dirty and dry outdoors area. There were some trees growing, some cliffs and rocks sprawled out, and above them was a blue sky.

"Yeah! This has to be my second favourite training area I've seen." Harry admitted.

"Only second?" Urahara asked with amusement.

Harry shrugged,

"What can I say, an enchanted castle is kind of a tough one to beat."

Urahara looked curious at that,

"Enchanted castle? Well, that's just unfair."

"What's this about an enchanted castle?" Yoruichi asked.

"Our friend here is a wizard." Urahara said, "I know, I was skeptical too at first. But it's true."  
"A wizard?" Yoruichi looked curious, "Well, I guess they can exist, why not?"

"You seem to accept it a lot better than Rukia and Ichigo did. You know, I can understand Rukia, but Ichigo? I mean he just found out Shinigami exist; you think he'd have a more open mind." Harry's eyes traveled over to a giant gaping hole two kids, Ururu and Kota? At least that's what Harry thought their names were, were looking down into the hole.

"So, where's Ichigo?" Harry asked looking around.

"In the hole." Urahara said.

"Oh, okay." Harry nodded, as though that were perfectly normal, "So…What now, Kick-ass-sensei?" he asked Yoruichi.

The cat grinned,

"Now we have a bit of a spar to see where you're at. The cat began to glow, then transform. Harry watched unsurprised when the black cat began to turn into a woman…a very naked woman.

"So, now we train."  
"Uh, Yoruichi? Not that I'm complaining or anything," Urahara said, "But you might want to put some clothes on."

Yoruichi blinked,

"Oh right, I completely forgot about that."  
"I can't blame you." Harry shrugged, "Being a cat all the time, you wouldn't really think of clothes."

"You seem unaffected." Urahara pointed out, "See a lot of naked women?"

"I'm a healer." Harry rolled his eyes, not to mention, he was basically immune to that stuff now after constantly seeing Erza in her skimpy armour and Lucy's inability to keep her top on. And then there was Virgo who Harry would wake up to find sleeping next to him in her underwear for whatever reason.

"I'll go get you your clothes." Urahara decided, climbing back up the ladder.

Harry started doing a few stretches, and Yoruichi observed him.

"You're pretty flexible. I'm guessing a good portion of your fighting style has to do with acrobatics?"

"Yeah." Harry confirmed, "I think I'm alright with hand to hand, but I really need to get faster." He repeated.

"I can definitely work with you." She said observing him as he stretched, "I'm an expert at hand to hand and shunpo."  
"Shunpo?" Harry asked curiously.

"The art of moving fast." She explained, "Speed training is my forte."  
"Then I guess I'm lucky." Harry said as Urahara came back down the ladder, clothing in his hands. Yoruichi pulled on her clothes, an orange top and black leggings.

"Just tell me when you're ready and we can get started."

Harry spent a few more minutes stretching, then got up.

"Okay. I'm ready." He said.

Yoruichi grinned, just like how she had as a cat.

"Good, come at me."

A magic circle appeared behind Harry, which allowed him to spring forwards at his top speed. Yoruichi easily countered his punch, but Harry spun and tried to catch her with a kick.

"Good." She said, "You're right though. You have great movements, but you aren't particularly fast…good power too."

Throughout their spar, Harry was only vaguely aware of Urahara watching their match. Yoruichi was jumping around him and Harry could barely keep up with her with his own eyes. Sometimes he couldn't see her moving at all!

"Alright, time." Yoruichi said, stopping the fight, "You can see my movements, well, most of them. Not a lot of people can do that. Very impressive. But your body can't quite keep up."

"So then…what now?" Harry asked.

Yoruichi grinned,

"I'm gonna tell you how to do shunpo and we'll work from there. Shunpo is a Shinigami art. I don't know what Wizards use…"  
"We don't have a speed technique." Harry admitted, "Most wizards aren't fighters."

"I see." Yoruichi said soberly, "And why are you?"  
Harry let out a breath through his nose,

"Because I never had much of a choice, I guess, unless I wanted to die."

"What do you mean?" Yoruichi asked.

"A…well, sometimes Wizards will turn to dark magic, nasty stuff. We call it 'going dark' but, there was this one wizard who went really dark…There was this big war and this wizard, well, he killed my parents, and then he tried to kill me. For some reason though, the spell didn't work, it bounced back and hit him." Harry frowned, "It left me with a cursed scar."  
"A cursed scar, you say?" Urahara asked, eyes looking at Harry curiously.

"The scar left me with some sort of connection with him. Sometimes I can feel his emotions or see into his mind…"

"By I thought he was dead." Yoruichi frowned, "You said the curse he cast to kill you bounced back and hit him."

"It did." Harry frowned, "But he's alive. He did something though that caused him to live without a body, I don't know how…actually with all that's been going on, I'm kind of hoping one of you could tell me that."  
Urahara scratched his chin,

"Living without a body, you say…"

"You have a thought, Kisuke?"

Urahara frowned,

"I do, but you aren't going to like it. Is it possible to see this cursed scar of yours, Raven?"

Harry paused, looking at Yoruichi,

"It's on my forehead." He said.

Yoruichi pouted,

"Aw, and I really wanted to rub it in his face that I knew your identity and he didn't."

"You know who he is?" Urahara asked Yoruichi with a pout, "Why didn't you say anything, Yoruichi?"

"'Because I wanted to watch you squirm." She admitted.

"Me too." Harry added.

Urahara pouted,

"You guys suck."

"But…if you're willing to take a look at my scar and help me get rid of it, I guess I could reveal my identity. Oh, but don't tell Ichigo and the others. It's way too much fun teasing them, and I have ten days before I have to reveal myself." Harry smirked.

"Sounds fun." Urahara decided, "Alright, I won't tell anyone, and I'll take a look at that scar of yours."

Harry nodded, then unraveled the scarf, tugging it gently off his face. Urahara frowned,

"I think I've seen you before…but I can't quite put my finger on it…"

"You probably saw me at the whole Don Kanoji thing." Harry said rolling his eyes, "That was annoying." He picked the scarf up and wrapped it around his neck.

"Oh yeah! That was you!" Urahara realized.

"I'm one of Ichigo's friends." Harry said, "We eat lunch together, and I live next door to Orihime. It will certainly come as a surprise if Ichigo hasn't figured it out already, I did drop some hints for him, you know."

Harry lifted up his hair away from his face revealing a lightning bolt scar.

"Think you could take a look?"

Urahara approached him and frowned,

"It's releasing a strange reiatsu…It's like there's something inside. I think I can get it out, wanna come back to the shop?"


	24. Chapter 24

**Yay! More chapters! I'm not even half-way publishing what I have of this story so far! Lots of Animetopoeia. Ana is the best!**

**As for pairings…it's not really meant to be a harem story. I had thought about making it a Harry x Virgo story, but…Harry does seem to get a lot of love interests. Eh…you'll understand later.**

**Thank you for the comments, I'll try to address them in my authors notes best I can!  
I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach, or Fairy Tail!**

Harry lay down on the floor, a pillow propped up his head while Urahara knelt over him.

"Uh…are you sure this is safe?"

Urahara paused,

"I never said it was safe."

Harry tilted his head with the realization,

"Alright then, as long as you didn't make any promises."

Urahara shot him an odd look,

"You're a strange one, aren't you?" He held these metal tongs in his hands, then carefully pushed them up against Harry's scar. The tongs went through the skin, it felt rather strange to Harry, a bit painful as well, but he didn't cry out.

"I think I've got it." The tongs clamed around something, then Urahara began pulling. It hurt a lot now, like something was being ripped out.

The tongues came out with a black, misty spirit thing.

"How interesting." Urahara said examining the specimen and turning it over, "Can I keep this, Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"It's not like I need it, besides, finders-keepers and all."

Urahara grinned while the wrath thing looked absolutely terrified,

"Then I shall take a look at it in my lab…you know, in the name of science."  
Harry snickered,

"Right, I'm going back down to train with Kick-ass-sensei, then."

…

00000000000000

….

Harry was pretty sure he knew what the wraith thing was after Urahara said it was a soul fragment. It solved the mystery of why Voldemort wouldn't die, and Harry had a feeling there were more of those things than just the one that had been in his scar.

Yoruichi started Harry on shunpo training the next day.

"First you need to learn to focus your energy into other parts of your body. You can feel the flow of energy inside you, correct?" Yoruichi asked Harry.

The two were both standing.

"Yes, I can." Harry said.

"Good, now watch." Yoruichi smiled, then disappeared in a blur, and reappeared a few feet away.

Harry frowned,  
"Could you show me again?" he asked, he could almost see it, the way her energy flowed through her legs, then how she kicked off but there was something he was missing.

"Of course." She said, then took off again.

Harry finally saw it, a small pivot in her left leg just before she launched herself. Harry focused his energy into his legs, bracing his knees. Then he pivoted his leg and shot forwards, only to go just a bit farther than he wanted to.

Harry grinded his teeth, but he had done it…

"Very good." Yoruichi said, "I'm impressed. Now, the thing about fighting is that we need to learn to focus our reiatsu, or in your case magic into certain points of our body, whether it's to brace ourselves for some sort of impact, or if it's to strengthen a kick or punch or any other attack. I noticed you went a bit further than you wanted. Why don't you try again?"

Harry spent five hours, from about five in the morning until ten just shunpoing back and forth until Yoruichi got bored and shunpoed up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Tag. You're it!" she then shunpoed off.

Harry grinned and ran after her in another shunpo and chased her around for what must have been hours. He couldn't catch her though. She was just too fast!

Harry had to stop, out of breath.

"Hm?" Yoruichi raised an eyebrow, standing only a few meters away, "Looks like we'll have to work a bit on your…"

She was interrupted when a huge burst of reiatsu seemed to explode off in the direction Ichigo was training at.

Harry wrapped his scarf around his face.

"Let's keep going." He decided, "I want to get stronger."  
Yoruichi grinned,

"Then come and catch me!"

They both took off in shunpo.

Yoruichi left after lunch to go train Chad and Orihime. That woman was certainly busy, training three different people.

Ichigo seemed to have gotten his Shinigami abilities back, that was good…and he was trying to nock of Urahara's hat.

"What's happening?" Harry asked approaching Tessai and the two kids.

"Oh, Ichigo is trying to nock off Kisuke's hat." Tessai said absently.  
"I can see that, but why? What did the hat ever do to Ichigo? Or is it controlling Urahara-san's brain?"

Tessai's glasses gleamed in the light,

"It's not controlling Kisuke's brain. It's just apart of Ichigo's test."

"Oh, that sounds interesting." Harry nodded absently, "Kick-ass-sensei and I were playing tag earlier, it was lots of fun."

"You found it fun?" Tessai asked, shooting him a weird look.

"Of course, I did." Harry said as though it were normal, "I never really got to play tag when I was little. This is a whole load of fun…by the way, kick-ass-sensei says you're a kidou expert. I'm quite fascinated by kidou. Do you think you could show me some? I'm curious to see if it's compatible with my magic, or if I can modify it slightly to work."  
"I don't see why not. You're certainly keeping busy, aren't you Raven-kun?"

Harry shrugged, now used to the nickname,

"I like learning new things, and it seems like it might be useful."

"Very well, let's move away from their fight and start getting to work then."

….

000000000000000000

….

Yoruichi came over to see Harry less and less, but whenever she did come over, Harry and her would play a game of tag, then have a spar.

When she wasn't there, Harry would run and practice Shunpo and other speed training, or work with Tessai on kidou.

He found himself unable to do a good portion of it, most of it just wasn't compatible with his magic. But he was able to cast the ones that didn't materialize anything that wasn't energy. Certain shield spells threw him for a loop, but otherwise, he had enough energy and control to cast them so long as he knew the incantation.

…..

000000

…..

By the time eight days were up, Harry was getting better at his hand to hand, much better. And his speed had increased exponentially with the special training Yoruichi was giving him.

Urahara said he ought to go home for the remainder few days while they set up the Senkaimon.

"By the by," Urahara said, "That thing that was in your scar. It was a fragment of a soul."  
"A fragment of a soul?" Harry's eyes widened, "Then…the soul fragment was acting as an anchor or sorts…" Harry's eyes moved back and forth, he bit on his lower thumb nail, "Is that bastard crazy? Does he even understand…? No, of course he doesn't."

"Harry," Urahara said, "I'd say, from the state of that soul fragment, this guy has split his soul more than once." He tilted his head forwards, eyes shaded."

Harry shook his head,

"Dark magic…soul magic. That's forbidden. Stuff like that has been outlawed for centuries." He ran a hand through his hair in thought, "I need to kill him."

"Harry, I don't think I can just leave this. The soul society…"  
Harry let out a sigh,

"Urahara…I told you I was a wizard. I am…but there's more to my story than that. Do you believe in other worlds?"

"Other worlds?" Urahara asked slowly.

"Never mind." Harry shook his head, "You can tell the Soul Society if you feel it necessary, but…they'll never find any other wizard in this world."  
Urahara's eyes widened, then returned to normal,

"I see…well," he said regaining his jovial attitude, "I guess I'll keep this a secret. It's not really my business anyways…"  
Harry rolled his eyes,

"We both know you make it your business to meddle in other people's business. But…thanks."

Urahara waved a hand dismissively.

"By the way," Harry said, then tossed him a compact mirror, "Give that to kick-ass-sensei for me? I'm not sure when I'll see her again. Your mirror is also linked up to hers. To contact her, just say 'Black Cat' into the mirror and it should work, oh and for her to answer all she has to say is 'answer' same rules apply. It's linked to my mirror too, and you already know my codename is 'Raven.'"

Urahara scratched his chin,

"You think you could make a few more of these, Harry? They might be useful for our mission."

Harry thought about this,

"I might be able to make a few more. It's pretty easy to make an enchanted mirror. I'll bring them when we leave." He decided.

"Alright, see you then."

….

000000000000

…

It was a week later and Harry was lying in his bed, his window was open due to Urahara saying something along the lines of waiting with his window open seven days from the time he'd last seen him.

At lightning speed, something whizzed by his bed and plopped against the wall, spraying it with red good which melted, leaving a worded message behind.

"Cool." Harry said wide eyed, it looked like something written in blood…he wondered if Urahara would sell some to him.

_Urgent,_

_Meet us outside the Urahara shop immediately!_

_P.S. Yes Harry, I do sell these at my shop._

Harry pumped his fist in the air, then gathered his things. He grabbed his bag, going through it quickly to make sure he had everything in order, then transformed into his masked outfit. The scarf wrapped around his head, hiding his identity and the green shirt-robe covered the upper half of his body, a long black shirt underneath and fingerless gloves on his hands. He wore black sweatpants and shoes that were more like cloth, made for fighting.

He cast a disillusionment charm on himself and ran out into the night, using shunpo along the way. He blurred into reality in front of the shop. He was the first to arrive.

Nearly five minutes later, Chad came, he looked at Harry curiously.

"Who…are you? Are you joining us on our mission?"

Harry nodded,

"I'm a pretty decent fighter. My nickname is Raven, if that helps. Ichigo and Uryu have seen me around, but they don't know my identity yet."

Chad grunted.

Ichigo was next to arrive,

"Chad?" He blinked as he walked through the gates of the shop, then stopped, "What…are you doing here? Him I was expecting." He pointed to Harry, "But you?"

"Rukia saved me once." Chad said in monotone, "I want to help her out if I can. I'm going too."  
The door slid open and Urahara stepped out, the same smile on his face that, to Harry, promised an ulterior motive.

"What's the matter, are you hard of hearing or something?" Ichigo turned around to see Uryu.

"Uryu." Ichigo said not so disbelieving.

The Quincy was dressed in his traditional fighting garb, all white with blue lining around the edges of his shirt.

"I don't take defeat well." He said, "Especially when it's at the hands of a Shinigami. So, I'm going too."  
"So I guess we're all present and accounted for." Orihime said walking through the gate, this seemed to come as the greatest shock for Ichigo.

"Orihime?" he wondered.

She bowed formally, "Yes, I got the message too."

"Hold on a second!" Ichigo said looking back and forth between everyone, "Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Thankfully for him, someone did…Yoruichi came pattering up to them,  
"You're a little slow on the uptake aren't you?" she said bored.

"Yoruichi!" Orihime exclaimed happily, obviously glad the cat was there.

"Kid, don't tell me you didn't notice the increase of the hidden powers of these three friends of yours. There have been so many clues. You need to be more observant than that if you want to survive. While you were training and trying to regain your Shinigami powers, the three of them were also training in their own way. Instead of asking stupid, meaningless questions, you ought to be thanking them."

Ichigo stared down at the cat wide eyed,

"Eh…Holly crap, I didn't dream that up, it's really a talking cat!"  
Harry just stared at Ichigo strangely,

"You're strange, you know? Did you freak out like that when you first met Rukia who explained to you what a Shinigami was? In comparison a talking cat isn't that weird." Harry paused, "Unless it's secretly ruler of the universe or has laser vision…oh wait…Happy got laser vision that one time…never mind."

"Happy?" Yoruichi asked unconcerned.

"Happy's a cat too, he can talk and fly…he's also blue…He's nice."

"N-nice?" Ichigo gapped at Yoruichi, "What the hell!?"

"Ichigo, we've already moved on." Harry rolled his eyes, "Honestly, some people."

"Uh, it is a little strange, Mask-san." Uryu murmured.

"Alright, alright, come on in everybody." Urahara said clapping his hands in a 'hop to it' sort of way, then gestured towards the door, "Let's take this little party here in the store, there are things we can't talk about here in the open."

They all moved to go inside. Harry went in after Urahara. The two of them were the first down the ladder into the training area. Ichigo and Orihime were outside a moment longer but came in soon after. Once Orihime was down the ladder her eyes widened with wonder and awe, she clapped her hands together,  
"Wow, this is so incredible! Who knew there was something this humongous right underneath the shop, isn't it amazing?" she asked Ichigo.

"I guess…" the boy in question shrugged.

Tessai came up to them and grabbed Orihime's hands,

"A heart warming reaction, it's so great to have you on this trip, my dear."  
Orihime smiled, then scratched the back of her head uncertainly,

"Oh, the pleasure's all mine, Tessai-san."

"Alright everyone, your attention please." Urahara said lazily clapping his hands, "First of all, did you get those enchanted mirrors, Raven?"

Harry stepped forwards and pulled out some compact mirrors from his bag, he handed them out. Ichigo looked at the thing with a frown,

"Why do I have to carry around this sort of girly thing?" he mumbled.  
"It's an enchanted mirror." Urahara said factually, "And our lovely Raven here is going to explain how they work. Raven?"

Harry gave a slight nod,

"Those mirrors are a means of communication. Whatever you do, don't lose them." He said the last bit seriously, glaring at Ichigo.

"Hey, why are you looking at me?" Ichigo huffed.

"Basically, when you receive a communication the mirror will heat up and glow. When that happens, just open it up and stare into the glass and say 'answer.' It's simple. If you want to call someone else just look into the mirror and state that person's codename. I've written down the code names of the people your enchanted mirror is linked to, so even if you don't remember who's who, you should still be able to guess from what's written. Urahara-san is 'Mister Hat n' clogs,' Yoruichi-san is 'Black Cat.' Ichigo is 'Strawberry.'"

"What? Why you…" Ichigo growled.

Harry ignored the interruption,  
"Orihime is 'Star.' Uryu is 'Arrow,' Chad is 'Fruit Punch' and I am 'Raven,' simple enough, right?"

"Why am I 'Fruit Punch'?" Chad asked.

Harry shrugged,

"Cause your arm is red like fruit and your power is to punch. Not my best nickname, I guess." He admitted.

"Anyone want to test the mirrors out before you take off?" Urahara asked.

"Oh, I would!" Orihime said, she flipped open the mirror and smiled, "Calling…Strawberry!"

Ichigo dropped his mirror when it started pulsing a blue color,

"What the hell!?"  
"You have to open it up and say 'answer.'" Harry rolled his eyes.

Ichigo picked the mirror back up and flipped it open,

"Answer." He said, Orihime's face appeared in the glass.

"Hi Ichigo, wow, this is so cool!"

"What's the range of these things?" Uryu wondered.

"They'll work from all over the world." Harry shrugged, "And they were built to take a beating, they should be relatively difficult to destroy, unless you decided to purposely destroy it."

"Impressive." Uryu said looking at his mirror.

"They each glow a different color too." Harry said proudly.

"Why?" Chad asked.

"'Cause that makes it cooler." Harry smiled, though no one could see it do to his scarf.

"Speaking of codenames…" Urahara looked up at Harry, "You gonna tell everyone your real name, now?"

"Alright." Harry shrugged, "But before I do, does anyone have a guess?"

"Oh!" Orihime raised her hand, "Are you…Tatsuo?"

"Nope." Harry shook his head.

"Daisuke?"

"Nope."

Ichigo's eye twitched,

"Could you just tell us?"

Harry sighed,

"You know, I really thought you'd be able to figure it out. I dropped a lot of hints…oh, one more hint. Ishida-san, do you remember the day Ichigo followed you half-way to your house?"

"Um, it's kind of difficult to forget." He said.

"When did you first sense Ichigo was following you?" Harry asked carefully.

"When he was spying from the door of our classroom." Uryu recalled.

"Was he with anyone?" Harry asked.

Uryu frowned,

"He was alone."

Ichigo looked confused,

"What are you talking about, I wasn't alone!"

Uryu raised an eyebrow, then sudden realization seemed to dawn on him,

"You were with someone?"

"Yes, of course I was. Didn't you see him?" Ichigo asked confused.

Uryu shook his head,

"Ichigo, I didn't see you either. I just felt your reiatsu. Everyone has reiatsu. If you were with someone, then that means that person was purposefully hiding their presence."  
Ichigo's eyes widened as he looked at Harry,

"No…it's you? All this time, it was you?"

"How did I miss him?" Uryu wondered out loud, "You're saying…a student at our school was able to hide themselves from me for that long?"

Harry reached up to his head and untied his scarf, slowly he unravelled the cloth that masked his identity.

"Harry!" Orihime gasped out.


	25. Chapter 25

**And…another chapter! Thank you for reading my story that still hasn't ended. There will be more crossover mayhem as it continues. Harry has become a bit of a troll. Why is it that all of my earlier stories have a troll-like Harry Potter?  
I still don't own Harry Potter…or Bleach…or Fairy Tail.**

**I wish I did…but I don't.**

**Back to the story!**

"Harry!" Orihime exclaimed.

"I was kind of hoping you'd figure it out when I dropped that major hint about still remembering Rukia after she disappeared." Harry sighed, "But I guess not."

"Bastard." Ichigo growled.

"Now that's not nice." Harry chided, "I am gonna be on your team, you know."

He shoved the scarf into his bag for future use.

"But…why hide your identity?" Uryu asked Harry confused.

Harry shrugged,

"Several reasons really. I'm a wizard, which means, that unlike you several people can see my magic. You guys have spiritually based abilities, so no one can actually see what you're doing. Most would assume, if they saw you fighting hollows that you were just cosplayers, or auditioning for a play or something. Then there's the fact that if people found out who I was they might try experimenting on me or something. Plus, it was kind of fun messing with you guys."  
Ichigo sneered,

"That just pisses me off."

"Alright, alright." Urahara grinned, "Look here please."

Boom! A big stone square materialized into existence next to him.

"Voila!" Urahara shouted, "This is the gate that leads to the Soul Society. It's called a Senkaimon, or tunnel world gate. I'm gonna tell you all how to successfully pass through it. But first, we need to change one thing."

He shunpoed behind Ichigo, then struck him with his cane. Ichigo was thrust out of his body.

"Wow!" Orihime said, and Chad seemed to agree with the sentiment.

Urahara cackled, a most impressive cackle that Harry was certain some of the older witches back home probably wouldn't have been able to pull off.

"Alright, listen up." He said, "Unlike normal gates, this one has a spirit particle conversion machine."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ichigo asked dully.

"I'll explain, as you already know, the Soul Society is a spirit world. Unless you're in spirit form, it's impossible to enter. Right now only one of you can cross through as a spirit. Ichigo. A Shinigami. The conversion machine will change the rest of you into spirits as well."  
Harry raised a hand.

"Yes, Harry?" Urahara asked.

"What about Virgo. I was thinking about summoning her. She's a celestial spirit but when she comes to this world she seems solid."  
Urahara nodded,

"You should be able to summon her in the Soul Society if you need to. I took a sample of her hair earlier and Virgo is definitely a more…solid spirit. She should be fine."  
Harry nodded, lowering his hand.

"So you're saying," Uryu said, "The gate will allow us to pass through without extracting our souls?"

"Yes. Passing through the conversion machine will allow you to stay in your present forms." Urahara confirmed.

"Alright, we understand. Let's get going!" Ichigo began walking up to the gate only to be jabbed in the side by Urahara's cane.

But there's a catch." Urahara sang, "The window of time the gate can be kept open for you is only…four minutes long." He said darkly.

This seemed to shock everyone, save for Harry who didn't really mind either way. He could definitely run fast enough, though he wasn't entirely sure about the rest of them…

"But…is that enough time?" Ichigo asked worriedly.

"Ordinarily, no." Urahara admitted, "In fact, the whole scheme is a little shaky. Four minutes with the gate is all I can give you. After that, it will close, and anyone who hasn't made it through yet will be trapped forever in the dongai, the precipice world, between this world and the Soul Society."

"How will we every make it?" Orihime murmured.

"Go forward." Yoruichi walked up closer to her, "Remember the connection I told you about between heart and soul. You must have no doubt. Have no fear. Do not think of those you are leaving behind. The will to go forward will be your guide. And don't look back, only those who can do these things can follow me through the gate and survive."  
Ichigo stepped forwards, away from the group,

"We all know this already." He said growing impatient, "Quit with all your preaching and let's do this thing, now!"

Yoruichi looked behind at Ichigo,

"And you understand that if you lose, you can never return to this life again, right?"

They were sacrificing a lot, Harry thought. He didn't actually have a life here, but he wanted to help save Rukia. She was a friend, Nakama, he believed the term was from his time at Fairy Tail. Well, maybe that wasn't quite the word to describe their relationship at the moment. But her and Ichigo were Nakama, and Harry wanted to help, because that's what was right, and he knew he had the will to do it!

Don't look back…he thought to himself, always look forwards…

"Then all I need to do is win, huh?" Ichigo said, not at all seeing the problem.

Harry smiled slightly at this. He said it so simply. They were about to take on a society of Shinigami…and he'd summed it all up in those nine words.

"Exactly." Yoruichi agreed.

There was a flash of light and the gate glowed brightly.

"So, everybody ready? As soon as it opens run in as fast as you can." Urahara repeated.

"Right…" Ichigo drawled.

"Good luck." Urahara smiled.

The light was blinding, but Harry could just see it opening into a black void. He ran in quickly, but slowed when he realized that everyone else was behind him.

It was black inside, the ground was black and the walls were dark purple.

"Don't look now but that section we just came through is collapsing on us!" Uryu said looking over his shoulder, "I'm running as fast as I can but I still don't think we're gonna make it through!"

"Then quit looking behind you and concentrate your efforts on running!" Yoruichi shouted back, "If the restricted currents swallow you up then it's all over!"  
A bunch of purple gunk slammed down behind them, and Uryu and Orihime let out two small screams. Uryu was grabbed from behind.

"Uryu!" Ichigo stopped and grabbed for his sword, "I know that stupid outfit of his was gonna get him caught!"  
"Hold it!" Yoruichi shouted, "You mustn't do that Ichigo! The restrictive current entangles the spiritual body. If you reveal yourself using your Zanpakutou, it will swallow you too."

Harry ran up to Uryu, then expertly tore the fabric apart. Chad grabbed the glasses wearing boy and threw him over his shoulder and they took off running again.

"I can run by myself!" Uryu shouted, then seemed to pause mid shout, "I don't mean to bother you all while you're running but…something else is coming."

Harry could now sense something big moving from behind them.

"What is that!?" Uryu shouted fearfully.

"It's the cleaner!" she answered, "It comes through here every seven days to clean out the passageway. And it's just our bad luck that today is the day!"

They were all running frantically now, trying to gain more speed.

"Don't look back at it!" Yoruichi shouted when Ichigo tried to chance a look over his shoulder, "That will only slow you down. Just keep running or it will crush you to powder!"  
Harry could see the exit in sight. It was so close!

"Guys we're not going to make it!" Uryu shouted.

That's when Orihime turned around and grabbed the barrettes in her hair,

"Hinagiku, Baigon, Lili! Zantenkeshun, I reject!" she shouted, and her voice seemed to echo a moment.

A giant glowing yellow triangle appeared, then the cleaner and the triangle collided. The collision seemed to cause a force of air which thrusted them out of the hole.

And then they were…way above ground. They were falling through the air!

Harry managed to control his landing, but it was too fast for the others, they were all sprawled out awkwardly on the ground. Accept for Orihime who was sitting on her knees.

"Hey, is everyone alright?" She asked.

Harry was in a crouch, but gave a small nod of confirmation. The red-headed girl giggled,

"Ichigo, the way you landed showed tremendous artistic flair!"

Ichigo was not amused,

"Geeze, thanks a lot."

"It was pretty impressive." Harry snickered.

"Oh, shut up, Harry." Ichigo growled.

Uryu groaned, and sat up,

"I knew it would be tough getting through that gate but I never thought it would take such a toll on my outfit…" he pulled out an extra cape from his shirt, "I wasn't expecting to have to use my spare cape so soon."

Harry snickered, he didn't actually think anyone had brought a change of clothes with them.

"He brought a change of clothes…" Ichigo trailed off.

"Isn't it great everyone?" Orihime giggled, "We all got out okay."

"It's not great, we were lucky!" Yoruichi head butted the girl who immediately grabbed her eye, tearing up,

"My eye…"

"I told you not to expose your spiritual powers in there." Yoruichi continued to scold, "We're fortunate that the cleaner only made contact with the shield area. If it had even touched any of the six flowers themselves, you'd all be dead now."

Harry shivered, that…that wasn't good. He very much liked being alive.

"I-I didn't know." Orihime said looking down in shame.

"Hey lighten up, how was Orihime supposed to know that?" Ichigo defended her casually, "And anyways, if it wasn't for her quick thinking, none of us would be here right now."

"I don't think any of you appreciate how serious the situation really is." Yoruichi glared at the group.

"It wasn't on purpose." Harry shrugged, "But I do agree she probably should have thought that through a bit more…Anyways, we got out alive, so…maybe that's a sign that lucks on our side."

Yoruichi let out a sigh, then mumbled something under her breath.

"Listen!" Uryu said suddenly, "Doesn't it seem…awfully quiet around here?"

"Well, we did just crash land. I'd be afraid too if I were any normal person." Harry pointed out, "Where are we though?" he asked looking down at Yoruichi, wanting to get his bearings.

"Right now we're in the Rukon district." The black cat answered, tail flicking agitatedly after that close call, "It's here where souls come to live when they first live in the Soul Society. As a matter of fact, it's right on the perimeter of the Seireitei. That's where all the Shinigami live. The Rukon district is the poorest section, but it does have the greatest freedom. It has the largest population of souls inside the Soul Society."

"Cool, so it's like…well, the living world." Harry said looking around, "I kind of wasn't expecting that." He admitted, "I thought it would be some sort of…well, I don't really know what I was expecting." He shrugged.

"You mean you didn't know?" Ichigo asked.

"What makes you think I would?" Harry blinked.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly,

"Well, I mean you seem to know more about this stuff than me…"  
Harry shrugged,

"I don't know everything; I just pretend to." Harry let a mischievous smile play on his lips, "Well, I do know a few interesting things that some of you might not be aware of…but I think I'll save all that for later. You know, when we aren't in the open. I believe it might be a good idea later to tell each other about our strengths and weaknesses. We will be working together, that's why I revealed my identity to you, after all. And it's not just about trust either. I don't know anything about Orihime's and Chad's powers so…"

"Good idea." Yoruichi agreed.

"Hey, look over there." Ichigo turned, "Why do those buildings look so different than from everywhere else…"  
"Just forget about that." Yoruichi said casually, though Harry could see her inner panic.

"I know!" Ichigo said realization hitting him, "I bet that the Seirei…whatever you called it, where all the Shinigami live!" he began running up to it.

"Moron." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ah!" Yoruichi exclaimed.

"Alright you Shinigami, here I come!"  
"Wait!" Yoruichi shouted, "Stop, you idiot! You can't run up to the gate like that!"  
"Just let him." Harry rolled his eyes, "It will be a good learning experience."

Suddenly a wall fell out of nowhere and in front of Ichigo, causing him to crash into it. The wall blew dust into the air, causing all of them to raise their hands or look away from all the flying debris that might get into their eyes.

"Well, well." A voice came from the smoke and dust that was lingering in the air, "It's been a long time since anyone tried to pass through the gates without a travel permit."

A giant? Harry thought. He was huge! Bigger than Hagrid, at least twice as big! He looked on, unconcerned however.

"I don't get many guests these days." The man said glaring down at Ichigo, "Welcome…little man."

Uryu adjusted his glasses, observing the scene, Orihime and Yoruichi looked rather concerned. Harry just felt horribly bored of the whole thing. The giant slammed down the handle of what looked like a giant axe down on the ground, causing the earth to crack and more dust to rise into the air.

"Whenever you're ready, little man."

"He's a leviathan." Uryu observed, "What kind of creature do you suppose he is, anyways?"

"He is known simply as Jidambo." Yoruichi said, not taking her eyes off of Ichigo and the giant, "He was chosen from among the very best warriors the Soul Society has. His task is to guard the Hakuto gate, one of four entrances that make up the spirit gate."

Harry folded his hands behind his head and crossed his left leg behind him.

"Harry, you might need to interfere here." Yoruichi said turning to him.

"No need." Harry said calmly, "Yoruichi-san, would you say that Jidambo is stronger than a Lieutenant ranking Shinigami?"  
Yoruichi shook her head,

"No, why?"

"Because Ichigo went toe to toe with Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of the sixth squad a while back. And he nearly won. I doubt Ichigo could take on a captain, but he should be alright against Jidambo."

Yoruichi looked over Harry's calm face and gave a small grunt,

"Very well, I'll refer to your judgement on the situation. But…"  
"I will interfere if I believe he can't handle it." Harry assured.

"Just how strong are you, Harry?" Orihime asked curiously.

Uryu was looking Harry over curiously as well. Harry didn't blame them for their intrigue, he was probably the wildest factor out of all of them.

"Harry here could probably take on a captain." Yoruichi admitted out loud, "Not that I want you to." She shot him a sharp look.

"I have no plans to do battle unnecessarily." Harry said, "I'm here to help rescue Rukia. I can't do that if I'm dead, now can I? I'll be careful."

"Good." Yoruichi said.

Jidambo took out his axe, then swung it down. Ichigo grabbed his sword and swung upwards. There was an explosion of dust and dirt. Orihime let out a small scream. Harry held out two fingers and created a shield that looked like it was made out of glass, ruins ran along the top and bottom in a circle.

"Wow, thanks, Harry." Orihime said with awe.

Harry just shrugged but didn't say anything. Ichigo had stopped the axe, holding up his Zanpakutou with only one hand, not that Harry was particularly surprised.

"Who are you, spiky head?" Jidambo demanded.

"I'm Ichigo…Kurosaki!"  
The giant made a strange grumbling noise, which turned into full out laughter.

"He's laughing." Uryu said with disbelief.

"It's been a long time since someone's been able to stop the swing of my axe." Jidombo chuckled, "This is going to be fun. For one I'm going to be able to give it everything I have. Of all the people that have come before you there have only been two that have been powerful enough to stop my first thrust."  
Harry rolled his eyes,

"This guy sounds full of it." Though if that was true, then he couldn't blame the guy for being confident.

"But that is where the story ends, because neither they, nor you…" He raised his arm, axe in hand, "Could ever hope to be powerful enough to fend off my second thrust!" he let out a yell and swung the axe down, Ichigo raised his Zanpakutou determinedly, the two blades met. Another explosion ensued, but Ichigo was still standing.

"I suppose I underestimated him." Yoruichi admitted.

Harry smiled,

"Happens to the best of us."

"Are you still standing?" Jidambo growled, "I guess I'll have to just keep attacking then, see how you like this." He smirked, then raised his axe again, "Jidan ten strike festival!" he began pounding his axe down over and over, but Ichigo blocked them every time without breaking a sweat.

"One, two, three…" as he counted his axe struck down, "Four, five, six, seven…uh, seven, twelve, nine, six!" he paused, "W-wait, I've never had to count this high before. But I must be at ten by now." He stared at the spot where Ichigo stood, dust swirled around the orange haired boy.

"It's time to finish this now!" the overgrown man shouted, then swung from the side, his sword stopped, "Got him…I think." Then his face paled as the rubble cleared.

Ichigo stood, blade pressed up against the enormous axe with little effort.

"What? That's impossible!" Jidambo exclaimed, "How can you still be standing after that attack, spiky head!?"

"I agree…it does seem impossible." Uryu gazed on amazed.

Harry rolled his eyes, it really wasn't. But, when you thought about how quickly Ichigo had grown…then he supposed his progress was astonishing…

"Are you finished…gate keeper?" Ichigo looked up at him, glaring (But when was he not?), "Cause if you are, then it's my turn now!" he held out his sword, moving it in front of him into a sort of stance.

Harry raised an eyebrow, that was interesting…It seemed that Ichigo had developed his own stance. Harry knew enough about fighting styles to tell when a person was experienced and when a person wasn't. Over those past ten days of training, Ichigo had gained experience.

Not that Harry couldn't understand that. He himself had been training well into the night and into the morning working on his own techniques, his speed, Shunpo, his hand to hand, his sword techniques, and the kidou that Tessai had shown him.

"I'm not done…I'm not done!" Jidambo said, "I just need to bring out some more weaponry." He reached into his robe and pulled out another axe.

"He's got another axe!" Uryu shouted.

Then Jidambo twisted his face. It almost looked like he was holding his breath. He turned red with concentration, then the armor exploded off of his arm.

"My ultimate attack…" he raised his arms, "Hya!" he screamed as though revving himself up, "See if you can withstand…the Jidanbanzai strike festival!" he brought both axes down, but before they could land, Ichigo looked up.

"Sorry pal," he said, "but I'm gonna destroy your axes."

He swung his Zanpakutou. There was a huge explosion, bigger than any of the previous ones, but Harry's shield held strong, and none of the debris hit any of them.

Jidambo fell, the slid backwards, hitting the gate he was tasked to guard. After a moment the giant sat up,

"What…What was that?"

"Wow, if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it." Uryu said, and Harry wondered from the look on his face if he even believed it after seeing it, "Ichigo just sent that giant flying!"

After blinking a few times, Jidambo swung himself up, back onto his feet. He laughed,

"Woah, you almost got me that time." He said, "I can't believe I slipped an fell on my behind. It's been a long time since that happened." He then looked down at Ichigo, "What's that weird look on your face for? I bet you're the one who sent me flying backwards don't you?" he laughed, "You should really know better than that. But it's typical of a country bumpkin like you to think that a gatekeeper like me could be blown away so easily." He held up two handles, which were no longer axes as their blades had been shattered by Ichigo's swing.

"All I need to do is make one more swing with my mighty axe and…" then he seemed to notice the lack of axes and gasped, his hands shook and his eyes widened.

Harry looked on lazily, then the giant did the one thing that no one was expecting…he broke down in tears.

"My axes…my axes ruined!"

"Huh?" Ichigo wondered.

The giant began banging his fists down on the ground. He was throwing a tantrum, Harry realized, actually quite shocked.

"This giant is such a tough guy on the outside, but on the inside…" Uryu trailed off.

"He's more like a little boy." Orihime finished for him.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head awkwardly,

"Look, I'm sorry about your axes and everything but I couldn't just let you continue swinging them at me…" he trailed off, "Although I guess I could have just destroyed one of them and let you keep the other… my bad."

Harry chuckled a little at that,

"They're both big softies."

Uryu snorted at that. But Orihime gave a small nod of agreement.

"No, you're not bad." Jidambo sobbed, "Even though you're my enemy, you care. Instead of just focusing on your desire to get through the gate you're actually concerned about your opponent and your actions…" he grabbed onto Ichigo with both massive hands, though they seemed to completely engulf him, "What a generous heart you have, my spiky headed friend. What a generous and kind person you are."  
Ichigo smiled awkwardly,

"Well…it's only natural to want to console someone who cries so much even if they are really…big." Ichigo finished.

Jidambo stood up, wiping away his tears,

"I know; I'm acting like a big baby. All that crying and moaning over a couple of old axes. I'm nothing but an embarrassment." He hung his head, "I'm a total loser."

"Huh?" Ichigo asked intelligently.

"A total loser!" he shouted to the heavens, raising his hands up high, "You beat me not only as a warrior, but you have defeated me as a man as well!" he lowered his arms, "It has been three hundred years since I have become keeper of the hakuto gate. In all those years, never have I lost a challenge, or allowed anyone to pass this way. I thought the day would never come, but you are the first man to defeat me." He wiped tears from his eyes, "Therefore, I Jidambo hereby offer you passage through the Hakuto gate."

Harry was feeling rather skeptical at this point. Would it really be that easy?

"So, will you allow all of us to pass?" Harry asked him.

Jidambo nodded,

"That's right. I was decisively defeated in battle by your leader. I have no right to stop anyone in your group."

Uryu seemed to have a problem with this as he began shouting,

"What!? Whoever said anything about Ichigo being out leader, absolutely not!"

"It's no big deal, but why are you so upset, Uryu?" Ichigo twitched slightly, and Harry could tell he was insulted.

"So your name is Ichigo…that's a pretty cute name for someone who takes himself so seriously.

Harry chuckled.

"What!? Harry, shut up!" Ichigo shouted at Harry.

"I didn't say anything…yet." Harry added.

"Ichi means one, and go means guardian and that's what I am!" Ichigo ranted.

"Oh?" Harry raised an eyebrow, the promise of mischief in his tone, "And here I thought it meant 'strawberry.'"

Jidambo laughed as Ichigo fumed,

"Yeah, whatever, you take care now." He grabbed the gate, and began to lift, the gate moved up slowly. It was obviously difficult and Orihime made a sound of amazement, commenting on how she never thought someone could lift something so heavy.

But Jidambo froze, and Ichigo rushed up to him,

"What's up, is something wrong?" He turned his head and gasped.

Harry moved around to take a look and saw a man in a white Hakushou standing by the gate. He had a smile on his face, with squinted eyes, and silver hair. He sort of reminded Harry of Fai, they both put on a mask like that…but Harry could tell he was about to do something he didn't want to do. How odd…He quickly took out the scarf in his bag and covered his face before the man could get a good look at him.

"Who is that?" Ichigo asked.

"That is…the captain of squad three…Gin…Ichimaru!"

His expression…Harry tilted his head to the side looking at him, and Gin seemed to notice him. In fact, he actually seemed a bit intrigued by Harry as Harry was intrigued by him. He just seemed so much like Fay…

"Ah. Not good." The man said, though his expression did not reflect on his words, his sword extended, but Harry jumped up, using shunpo and deflected it before it could cut across Jidambo's arm…the man didn't want to kill Jidambo it seemed.

Ichigo blinked a few times, a bit dazzled by the speed. The sword retracted, and Gin seemed to be wildly impressed at the show of speed that Harry had displayed,

"And what do we have here? Another Shinigami?"

"Wrong." Harry said bluntly, it was a bit childish, but he rather wanted to see what would make this guy tick, "Guess again. I doubt you'll figure it out though."

The man's grin seemed to widen,

"Oh?"

"Kick-ass-sensei, what do you want me to do?" Harry asked, steadying his sword, never taking his eyes off of Gin.

Yoruichi's eyes narrowed,

"Retreat."


	26. Chapter 26

**It was very difficult to find a break point for this section and I wound up dividing things up a bit.**

**Thankfully, I don't think it sounds too unnatural.**

**Sorry, if I was unclear about whether or not this would be a harem. Harry is going to have a lot of love interests and a lot of people who are interested in him. This will become clear when Harry returns to Hogwarts. The pairing isn't decided. I've written part-way through Harry's return to his own world and so far...it could be a Harry x Virgo, Harry x Animetopoeia, Harry x Hermione, Harry x Grey, Harry x Erza, among other options.**

**I'm not very good at author's notes. I tend to spoil things a little too much. Hope this clears things up a bit (^_^)**

**Without further ado,**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail.**

"Retreat."

Harry nodded,

"Jidambo, lower the gate." Harry said, backing away.

"What? But why!?" Ichigo shouted.

"Yes…" Gin said looking Harry over, "Why retreat? It's clear you could fight me…"  
Harry shot him a smile,

"We can fight later if you want. But not now." Harry grabbed Ichigo's collar and pulled him back out of the gate.

"Jidambo, lower the gate." Harry said again.

"Uh, right." The giant let the gate go and it began to fall.

Harry smiled, then looked under it to see Gin still staring.

"Bye bye." He waved, then the gate slammed to the ground.

He let out a sigh then gave a small stretch, then dodged to the side when Ichigo's fist swung at him,

"What the hell was that!? We could have fought him!"  
Harry's eyes moved to look at Ichigo, his face turned serious,

"Tell me, Ichigo. Did you see his sword?"  
"What?" Ichigo scowled.

"You didn't, did you? Gin was about to cut Jidambo's arm off if I hadn't stopped him." Harry vanished Reyearth into a swirl of ruins, "I bet you didn't even notice when I drew my own blade. Maybe I could have fought him, but not with you guys around as targets. In this case a retreat was the best form of action. Not to mention, if I did fight him…" Harry frowned, "His reiatsu and my magic would have alerted every Shinigami in the vicinity to our location. We need to be stealthy if we ever wish to save your girlfriend, understand?"

"She's not my girlfriend!?" Ichigo shouted.

Harry rolled his eyes,

"If that's all you got out of that speech, Ichigo, then yes, she is."

"Enough, you two!" Yoruichi shouted, "This is not the time. Ichigo, Harry did the right thing in retreating."

Their attention was drawn by a rustling and murmuring from behind them. People began to emerge from the houses all looking rather timid.

"Well look at that." Uryu said, "They really were all in hiding."  
"Told you." Harry said.

"But…why?" Orihime wondered.

"Cause we were scary to them?" Harry suggested.

"Harry's right." Yoruichi confirmed, "Souls that come to the Soul Society illegally, without a Shinigami guide are known as Ryoka and are said to be the route cause of all kinds of trouble."

They must think that we're their enemies." Ichigo said.

"They don't." Harry said, "And quit with the fighting stances. You know, sometimes fighting isn't the answer." Harry looked over at the townspeople, "Hey." He waved to them.

Some of them looked confused, but the children waved back.

"You seem quite wise for your age…" an old man with a bald head, thought there were long grey strands at the side, a thick moustache and robes that were not so tattered, came walking through the crowd, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am the elder of this area." He gave a small bow of greeting, "All of us witnessed the events that occurred just now and we would all like to welcome you as Jidambo's saviours."

"It's true." Jidambo said, "They did save my life!"  
The old man smiled up at the gentle giant warmly,

"I know, that must have been quite scary for you." He said as one would talk to a child, "This place is full of many Shinigami which are rotten and incorrigible. But Jidambo, a native of Rukon district is not one of them. He's always been so kind to us…"

"We all notice how you fought against Gin Ichimaru in order to save Jidambo." A younger man in the crowd explained, "You must surely be good people."  
Ichigo scratched his head, embarrassed.

"Excuse me…excuse me…" A familiar voice said, making its way through the crowd.

A small boy with brown hair wriggled out from an opening in the gathering. His eyes immediately fell on Chad,

"Hey, over here." He said, "It's me, it's Yuichi, don't you remember?"

Chad's eyes fell on him,

"Yuichi…Shibata?"

"Mm hm." The boy confirmed, "Yuichi the cockatiel, you remember now, don't ya." He grinned widely.

That was the boy who had possessed that cockatiel Chad had saved, Harry realized.

Chad ended up walking off with him, talking about Yuichi's life in Rukon and catching up. Or at least that's what Harry assumed they were doing.

The rest of them were invited to the elder's home. It was a place to stay and plan out their next attack at least. Orihime explained her powers to Harry who listened on in intrigue, it seemed that her powers, while not the best for offence would work wonders for support and defence.

It was growing dark out when Ichigo's voice penetrated Harry's thoughts,

"Are you serious? You seriously want us to give up on getting past the gate?"

Harry drew his attention over to them curiously, and found himself interrupting,

"About that," he said, "Could we go in underground?"

"Underground?" Yoruichi asked Harry.

"Remember Virgo? She uses earth magic. She can part the earth, dig holes in the ground." Harry explained, "She can even pass through steel and the thickest of stone."  
Yoruichi seemed to ponder this,

"I'm not sure that would work. The Soul Society is surrounded by Seki Seki stone. It creates a sort of…force field around the whole area."  
Harry thought on this,

"I see…I might be able to get passed something like that with Virgo's help…but that would take time, and time depending on the barrier, especially if it's something I've never seen before…Maybe a whole day, maybe even a week…I'm guessing you already have an idea though?"

Yoruichi smiled,

"You could say that…Elder," she turned to the old man, "Do you know the whereabouts of Kukaku Shiba?"

The elder's eyes widened and he let out a gasp,  
"You can't be serious!"

"As you may know, she is someone who likes to change her place of residence." Yoruichi said calmly, "I haven't been able to find out where she currently lives."

The old man clenched his hands into fists, shaking,

"Kukaku Shiba…" he growled.

Harry tilted his head slightly, this Kukaku seemed to garner a rather strange reaction.

"Are you sure? Don't tell me you're planning to go through the wall like that!" there was a pleading in his voice, that seemed to beg Yoruichi to reconsider.

"Uh, like what?" Orihime asked bewildered.

There was a strange sound, like a stampede of horses in the distance and it was coming closer. Ichigo was the first to comment on it,

"What's that noise?"

Uryu and Orihime turned their heads towards the door.

"Sounds like a stampede." Orihime commented.

Suddenly, the door broke, and a man came flying through with a loud scream, he tumbled, rolling in a series of summersaults. Orihime let out a scream of surprise.

"What's happening!?" Uryu shouted.

The man got up, rubbing his bandana clad head. He had goggles on over his eyes, vaguely masking his face.

"Anyone know who this guy is?" Ichigo demanded.

A boar with a red ribbon in it's main came waddling into the house.

"What the hell!?" Ichigo shouted looking at the beast, "What in the…what's a boar doing here?"

"Well, well well." The man said, brushing himself off, "Thrown again by old Bonny, there's got to be an easier way to travel."

Harry's eyebrow twitched,

"You mean they don't have bicycles in the after life?" he asked blatantly.

He was ignored, figures.

"Hey, it's been a long time, old man." He greeted.

The elder looked horrified,

"Ganju, no! What are you doing here? I think you should go home." He said quickly.

"What gives?" Gonju asked, "Look, I know it's been a while, but is that any way to greet an old friend?" He turned his head looking back and forth, "I mean what are your guests here going to think?...huh?" His eyes landed on Ichigo and Harry sensed a wave of animosity coming off the guy, "What do we have here?" he took his goggles off, "Would someone explain to me why there's a stinking Shinigami here?"

"Oh, I can!" Harry raised his hand, chirping in a friendly manner, "Ichigo's a human, but with Shinigami powers. He's come here to storm the Soul Society."  
"Harry, you can't just go blurting something like that out!" Uryu shouted.

"He's not gonna tell on us. Besides, what's one more person knowing? Everyone in Rukon knows."

Uryu rubbed his temples, trying to come up with an explanation but found none.

"Well he looks like a Shinigami to me." Ganju snarled.

"Alright then, Ichigo, strip." Harry ordered.

"W-what? Why the hell do you want me to strip!?" Ichigo shouted indignantly.

"Cause then you won't look like a Shinigami." Harry shrugged, "Everyone wins."

"Are you making fun of me?" Ganju growled.

"Not at all." Harry smiled innocently, tilting his head to the side, "I just want everyone to be comfortable. Besides, I think it would be rude to start a fight in Ojii-sama's home."

Ganju looked confused, but turned back to Ichigo.

"H-he's really good at manipulating people, isn't he?" Uryu murmured under his breath.

Harry shot him a sinister smirk,

"I have no idea what you mean."  
Uryu shivered, then looked away from Harry quickly. Harry went back to smiling innocently while Yoruichi watched on, amused.

"What I want to know is, why is there a stinking Shinigami here?" Ganju asked, slapping Ichigo's cheek in a rather dangerous way.

"Ah well," Harry sighed, "Ojii-sama, could I have some more tea?"

"Now you're ignoring them!?" Uryu shouted, just as Ichigo punched Ganju in the face, sending him flying.

Harry shrugged,

"Can't help idiots."

"Would you like anything in your tea?" the elder asked.

"Oh no, I'd like it plain, please. Besides, it smells really good." Harry complimented.

Ichigo and Ganju seemed to be having a shouting match by this point.

"What should we do?" Orihime asked looking at the fight worriedly.

"Quite a mess." The elder said, "This is just as I expected." He took a sip of his tea.

"Come on!" Uryu said, "This is no time to just sit there drinking tea! Just tell us who the guy is!"  
"Uryu, anytime is good for tea." Harry told him seriously, "Oh, Ojii-sama, is your glass empty? Actually, I brought some tea with me." He reached into his bag and pulled out a thick looking thermos.

"You brought tea with you?" Uryu's eye twitched.

"Anytime is good for tea." Harry shrugged, "Oh, I think I should warn you." Harry smiled, pouring the elder some tea. "That's my own special blend of tea. It's a little different every time, so I can't guarantee the flavour."

The elder looked at the tea in his cup appraisingly, then took a sip. He swallowed,

"This tastes good."

"Then you're lucky." Harry bowed his head slightly, then poured himself some tea.

"Seriously, who is this guy!?" Uryu shouted again.

"Are you kidding me?" Ganju asked, "You really don't know who I am?"

Uryu adjusted his glasses,

"No, I don't."

"Me neither." Orihime said.

"No." Chad responded blandly.

"I don't wanna know." Ichigo growled.

"Oh, I know." Harry raised his hand, "You're Ganju, right?"

"So you have heard of me." Ganju smiled, putting two fingers to his chin.

"Yup," Harry said, "Just now, when Ojii-sama said your name."  
Uryu deadpanned.

"Are you making fun of me!?" Ganju shouted, "I swear he's making fun of me." He turned to Uryu, expecting him to agree with his declaration.  
Uryu adjusted his glasses,

"I honestly couldn't say…it's tough to tell with Harry. If it helps though, he's always like this."

Harry smiled innocently,

"I wasn't making fun of you, Ganju-san."

Ganju grumbled,

"Yeah right…Well, then, I guess I'll just have to introduce myself. My given name is Ganju. The self-proclaimed Deep Red Bullet of West Rukon." He struck a pose, flexing his muscles, "The self-proclaimed but universally acknowledged, boss-man of West Rukon. And finally, the self-proclaimed number one Shinigami hater of West Rukon."

"Self-proclaimed!?" Everyone but Harry and the elder said at once.

Harry clapped his hands,

"Wow, those are some impressive titles you have, Ganju-san."

"Harry…they really aren't." Ichigo said, his head resting in one of his hands.

"Say what?" Ganju asked dangerously.

Harry took a sip of his tea and watched on innocently.

"You heard me." Ichigo said antagonistically.

Ganju let out a battle cry then tackled Ichigo, they both were flung outside onto the streets.

"Harry, aren't you going to do something?" Uryu asked looking at Harry as said boy in question took another sip of tea.

"No, why?" Harry blinked confused.

Uryu shook his head helplessly,

"Never mind…"

The elder got up from his spot and made his way to the door,

"Stop this fighting, Ganju! Can't you tell this man is a good Shinigami?"

"There's no such thing as a good Shinigami!" Ganju growled out.

"Oh, so that's it." Harry set down his tea and walked over to the door.

"You'll interfere now?" Yoruichi asked, looking up at him.

Harry nodded,

"His comment just now bothered me."

He made his way to the door, then shunpoed in between them, neither of them noticed when Ganju's weapon had disappeared, nor when either of them had been punched in the gut. But they were now kneeling on the ground.

"That's enough." Harry said, releasing some magic.

"C-can't breathe…what's this…pressure?"  
Harry reigned in his magic. He hadn't known he was that powerful…then again, most of his fights had been against Yoruichi.

"Ichigo, you're acting like an idiot, picking a meaningless fight. You aren't a child. Grow up. Ganju…" Harry stared down at the man hard, and he flinched back, "From what I'm able to tell, the only difference between a regular soul and a Shinigami is that Shinigami have a higher reiatsu level and they choose to exterminate hollows. Frankly, your behaviour is atrocious. So, I'm gonna give you the same advice I gave to Ichigo. Grow up."

Ganju jerked back and backed up on his hands and legs like a frightened crab. He fell back onto his butt near a circle of guys who were all on the backs of wild boars near the door of the elder's house. Harry hadn't even noticed them. He'd been more upset than he thought.

"H-he's almost as scary as your sister." One of the guys said, freaking out, then the giant clock attacked to his back rang.

Harry raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh crap! Ganju it's nine o' clock, man!"  
Ganju paled considerably,

"What? Nine o' clock!? Come on, we gotta go, Bonny!" He whistled and the boar from before came, trampling Ichigo.

Ganju jumped onto his boar and he and his friends quickly fled the scene.

"Hey, wait!"  
Harry shot Ichigo a glare.

"Eep!" Ichigo backed away from the green-eyed boy who was fuming,

"I just told you to quick acting like a child, and you continue to try and antagonize the situation?"

"Uh…um, no, I mean…sorry."

Harry sighed, then reigned in his magic,

"Fine." He said turning around, "Just keep your temper in check…or you may find yourself doing something you regret."

Harry returned to the elder's hat and smiled at the old man,

"I'm sorry about the scene we cause, Ojii-san. Please allow me to fix your door."  
"Oh, that's very kind of you." The elder said.

Harry smiled serenely causing Uryu, Chad, Ichigo and Orihime to blink at the sudden change in behaviour.

Harry drew a line with his fingers between the door and the opening, he then summoned his wand in a swirl of ruins and gave a small movement.

"Reparo." The door jolted up then fixed its self with the magic.

Everyone watched on, impressed by the display.

"Was that…magic?" Orihime guessed.

"Yup." Harry said absently, "Reparo is a spell that's generally used to fix things." He admitted, "As you can see, it comes in handy."  
"Magic?" The elder asked quietly.

"Yes, sir." Harry nodded, "I am a wizard."  
The elder laughed,

"Well, isn't that something. No wonder you're so good at making tea."

"Oh, thank you." Harry smiled.

"What does one have to do with the other?" Uryu muttered to himself.


	27. Chapter 27

**This is a longer chapter. So, I got a comment about how I was using 'ruins' instead of 'runes.' I did write this a long time ago, and as the story goes on, that does get corrected. But I'll make sure to look over what I wrote in the past before publishing next time. I've caught a couple other errors like that 'weary' instead of 'wary.' 'Bellow' instead of 'below.' They're small things, but they do add up. Thank you for pointing that out!**

**Anyways, I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach, or Fairy Tail.**

They stayed the night at the elder's place. Yoruichi snuck into Harry's room that night, just before he could drift off to sleep.

"So, you want to tell me why you got so angry?" Yoruichi asked him, snuggling into his bed.

Harry sighed,

"I come from a society of magic, you know this already, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you know that Wizards can be quite discriminative?" Harry said looking up at the ceiling, "Our society is largely based on blood status. There's the purebloods, the half-bloods, and the muggleborns. Purebloods basically rule. Many of their lines go back centuries. They believe that muggleborns, those born to non-magical families are basically scum." Harry wrinkled his nose, "There was a whole war not long ago. The purebloods opting for blood supremacy, led by a tyrant named Voldemort, and the 'light' side who wanted equal rights." Harry frowned, "The war ended with my family. My mother was a muggleborn, or mundane-born, while my father was a pureblood of an ancient and noble family. They fought, and then died when I was one."

"I see, I'm sorry." Yoruichi said.

"Don't be, I don't really remember them." Harry admitted, "But, that's not why I'm upset. The war ended with my family, my father died first, then my mother…then he went after me."  
Yoruichi looked alert,

"But…you were one and you survived?"

"I did, and he left me with a cursed scar. The one Urahara removed." Harry grimaced, "No one knows how I survived that night, I don't know how I survived…so the magical world put me up on a pedestal. They wrote books about me, called me the 'boy-who-lived.' I was taken to my magic hating relatives on my mother's side, beaten and treated like a slave every day." Harry balled his hands into fists, clutching at his bedsheets, "It wasn't until I was eleven that I started training in magic. I received a letter from a prestigious school in Scotland. Needless to say, it was a bit of a shock, finding out that I was a wizard, and that I was famous on top of that." Harry frowned, "It was all so amazing, it was an escape from my relatives, you know?"

"But I'm guessing the magical world wasn't all it promised to be?" Yoruichi guessed, picking up on his tone.

"No." Harry shook his head, "It wasn't. Someone tried to kill me, cursed my broom while I was flying, hoping I'd plummet to my death. Someone saved me though…then I found out it was Voldemort, he was still alive, living off of one of my teachers like a parasite." Harry looked down, "I…I killed him. I mean, it was an accident. I don't even know how it happened." Harry shook his head, "Anyways, things didn't exactly get better after that. In my second year a basilisk got loose in the school, another attempt on my life. I slayed the monster with a magic sword, the sword of Gryffindor. Third-year, the man who supposedly framed my parents escaped Azkaban prison." Harry paused, "Azkaban prison is situated on an island in the ocean. It's guarded by soul-eating monsters called dementors. They aren't quite like hollows, more like…I don't know, a close cousin. When a dementor is near they draw away every single happy thought a person has ever had and leaved them with doom and despair. I was particularly susceptible to them. Anyways, the ministry, which controls the dementors, sent them to guard my school. They attacked several students, and nearly stole my soul. Thankfully, I asked one of my teachers to teach me the patronus charm, the only known defense against dementors."  
Yoruichi listened patiently, but appeared a bit worried at the mention of dementors.

"I found out that Sirius Black, the escaped convict really hadn't betrayed my parents, it was a man named Peter Pettigrew who had disguised himself as a rat. He was an animagus, or wizard who could turn into an animal. It's a lot like your transformation, actually." Harry said thoughtfully, "Pettigrew escaped, Sirius was caught. But later I broke him out along with a friend of mine. Then, in my fourth year I was forced to compete in a tournament…one where people have been known to die." Harry shuddered, "The trophy, which was at the end of the three tasks turned out to be a portkey, er…like a teleportation device. Cedric and I grabbed it together, it was a tie. But we were transported into an ambush. There were terrorists waiting for us, hoping to bring back Voldemort. They took my blood for the ritual, and Voldemort got a new body. We dueled, and I managed to get away, but Cedric was killed." Harry grimaced, "And that brings me to the summer after the tournament. My friends wouldn't contact me. I didn't care anymore about not knowing…not knowing anything important. I just wanted someone to talk to…but they wouldn't even write or call me on the phone or…or anything!" Harry ran a hand through his hair, "It was so frustrating…That's when I met Ana. She told me…she'd take me far away from it all. I accepted her offer and I ran."

"I don't blame you." Yoruichi said, "That sounds tough. Did no one ever give you any help though?"

Harry shook his head,

"I was only eleven when this started. I went to the teachers, but none of them would help me, I had to deal with assassination attempts, basilisks, dragons, all that on my own and it was so damn frustrating! Especially when my friends actually turned on me. I could never tell when I could trust those closest to me and when I couldn't…but, then I met people, kind people who taught me that that's not what friendship is about." Harry smiled slightly, "I know I'll have to go back someday. But…before I do, I want to get stronger. And I'm not just talking about physical strength."  
Harry closed his eyes,

"I'm not that naïve anymore. Now that I look back on my life…I know that someone has been pulling the strings from behind the scene. I was a weapon for the 'light,' a pawn on some grand chessboard. While the blood purists want my head." Harry's eyes grew cold, "But I'm not going to play by their rules anymore. I'm being played like a puppet in a war for civil rights. When I hear someone saying like everyone classified in a certain group is all the same…it ticks me off because I remember, and I'm reminded that one day…one day soon I'll be going back. One day soon I'll have to face all those morons who are so wrapped up in their own pettiness and hate that they don't care who they sacrifice so long as they're proven right…Maybe that's why I want to save Rukia." Harry sighed, "Not just because I like her as a person and I don't want her to die…but because I also see myself in her."

"I see." Yoruichi said softly, "That's why you were training so hard with me…I always wondered, I thought you were advancing faster than I've seen most people progress. You have great determination, Harry."  
"Thank you, kick-ass-sensei." Harry smiled slightly.

"I know you'll survive, Harry. You'll be free from all this one day." She murmured.

"I know I will." Harry said, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

…

0000000000000

…..

The next day, Harry woke up in bed with Virgo pressed up against him, and Yoruichi lying on his other side.

Harry sat up and Virgo let out a yawn.

"Good morning, Master."  
"Virgo…why do you insist on climbing into bed with me?" Harry asked, not that he was complaining.

Yoruichi woke up then as well,

"Harry, when did you manage to bed a girl?" she wondered.

"Virgo likes to sneak into bed with me sometimes." Harry sighed, "Though I can't quite figure out why…"  
"You were sad, master. I could sense it last night."

"You could sense it?" Harry asked surprised.

She cuddled up against him,

"I don't know why…I've never been able to feel my other masters' emotions the same way I feel yours. But when you don't want to be alone…I feel I need to come."

"Oh…" Harry said uncertainly, "I…thank you, Virgo. That's very kind of you."  
Virgo smiled sleepily, then the door to his room slid open,

"Harry are you up…" Ichigo froze at the door, then blushed beat red when he saw Virgo in her frilly black underwear pressed up against Harry.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, then closed the door.

Harry just stared at where he'd been blankly.

"What's his problem?" He wondered.

Yoruichi just laughed,

"Probably just embarrassed to have caught you in bed with a woman, Harry-kun."

Harry shrugged,

"I don't see how that's embarrassing."

Yoruichi snickered,

"You're an odd one, Harry."

…..

00000000000

…..

Harry got up out of bed and Virgo disappeared back into the spirit world. He changed back into his outfit from the day before, deciding it was clean enough, then entered the main room. Ichigo was looking down at his knees still blushing.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

Ichigo's face turned even more red, if that were possible,

"W-where did that girl go?"

"Huh?" Harry wondered, "Oh, you mean Virgo?" Harry shrugged, "Back to the Celestial world, I would expect."

"Celestial world?" Ichigo blinked.

"Virgo's a celestial spirit." Harry said factually, "I can summon her, but usually she just comes and goes as she pleases. She must have snuck into my bed again last night."

"S-she sneaks into your bed?" Ichigo stuttered.

"Yeah," Harry shrugged, "I'm pretty used to waking up with her next to me at this point."  
"Oh." Ichigo let out a sigh.

Harry smirked,

"Why, Ichigo? Did you think it was something else?"

Ichigo's face turned red again,

"I'm not going to dignify that with a response!"  
"You're pretty innocent for a teenage boy, aren't you?" Harry quirked an eyebrow.

He had a bite of breakfast, then made his way outside, thanking the old man as he went. It seemed that Uryu, Chad and Orihime were having some sort of discussion about 'Kukaku Shiba.' Making up a bunch of wild theories as to who she might be.

Orihime thought it would be a cat or a dalmatian. Harry sweatdropped at that particular theory. Uryu thought it would be a powerful samurai warrior. While Chad thought Kukaku would be some sort of wise man or monk.

That's when Orihime began drawing in the dirt,

"There we go. A powerful samurai warrior monk with the ears and tail of a cat." She said showing them her drawing.

"If he looks anything like that, we'll be in trouble." Chad murmured.

"I bet Kukaku's gonna be a pretty, well-built woman." Harry said, deciding to add in his two sense.

Uryu's eyes twitched,

"And why do you say that, Harry?"

Harry blinked,

"Just a feeling. Yoruichi never said Kukaku _wasn't_ a woman."

….

00000000000

…..

The sun had risen high in the sky, it was noon now and the group had made it way out into grasslands.

Uryu was leading, holding a map the elder had drawn up to direct them to Kukaku's house.

Ichigo let out a groan,

"Looks to me like we're heading out towards the empty countryside. Are you sure this is the right way, Uryu?" When Uryu didn't stop walking he growled out, "Hey, I'm talking to you."  
Uryu turned around angrily,

"Just be quiet. I'm following the elder's map and according to this," he held out the map, "We're almost there now. If you don't like the way I'm guiding us, then why don't you take over, great leader." He said the last few words with sarcasm.

Ichigo sobered,

"Don't get your panties in a wad, I was just wondering." He grumbled.

"Kukaku Shiba is probably the type of master that likes to keep his identity a secret by hiding away out in the wilderness." Orihime said excitedly.

"That would make sense." Yoruichi agreed, "But it's not the case here. Living in these types of surroundings is just Kukaku's personal preference."

Yoruichi began walking ahead of them,

"The fact is, Kukaku moves frequently but the houses themselves look much the same. I guarantee you'll know it's the house when you see it."  
The group followed after her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo asked, and Harry could tell the orange-haired boy had a sinking feeling in his gut.

"You'll see soon enough." Yoruichi answered cryptically.

As they made it to the top of the hill, Yoruichi let out a soft breath,

"Ah, it looks like we've arrived."

"What?" Ichigo asked.

"No way!" Uryu said.

"Oh, it's fantastic!" Orihime commented.

"Reminds me of my childhood." Harry said, causing several eyes to look at him weirdly.

"In what…way?" Ichigo said, then shook his head, "Actually, you know what, never mind. I don't want to know."

"I'm hurt, Ichigo." Harry said teasingly, "It seems there's a lot you don't want to know about me."

The house had a blue, Japanese style roof, with two sliding doors at the front. In front of the house were two giant stone arms that held up a sign that read 'Kukaku Shiba.'

"That's smart." Harry nodded, "That way she doesn't lose her house."

Uryu shot Harry an incredulous look,

"How the hell does someone lose a house?"

"You'd be surprised by how often that happens in the magical world." Harry paused, "And on Private drive. I don't understand why my aunt and uncle chose to live there in the first place, all the houses look the same!"

"Like I said," Yoruichi smiled, "You'll know it when you see it."

Uryu and Ichigo seemed to be having some sort of fit, while Yoruichi ignored them.

"So this time the banner is held up by two giant arms…it's actually quite clever don't you think?"

"Yeah, it's brilliant." Harry nodded, and it kind of was, "I can't wait to meet your friend, Yoruichi. She seems like a very interesting person."  
He noted the giant fireplace that seemed far too big for a house that size, and it was sealed off at the top.

Wonder what that's for? Harry thought to himself.

"Come on, let's go." Yoruichi ordered, snapping Harry from his admiration of the strange house.

As they moved towards the house, Uryu and Ichigo moved to the back of the group, though Harry heard Ichigo say,

"If you tell anyone I entered a place like this, I'll kill you."

"Why would he tell anyone?" Harry asked looking behind him curiously, "It's not like they could go there themselves, it's in the Soul Society."  
Ichigo blinked a few times, then shook his head,

"You're…really strange, Harry."

"So you keep telling me." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Halt, strangers!" Two voices yelled out in unison.

They all looked up to see two men standing each on one of the stone fists.

"Who dares trespass here?" the man in yellow robes said crossing his arms over his chest, trying to look intimidating.

"Foreigners from the looks of them, and one of them is a Shinigami." The other said, mimicking the attempt at intimidation.

They both landed, first the man in green robes, then the man in white robes. They looked nearly identical. Twins maybe? Harry wondered though he could probably tell them apart if he needed to.

"Very suspicious." The man in the yellow robes said, and Harry noticed that the two were moving in sync. Even Fred and George couldn't do that, "I Koganehiko,"

"And I, Shiroganehiko." The man in white robes introduced.

"Cannot allow you passage inside this building." They said together.

Ichigo reached for his sword hilt but Harry just stood there looking the two men over lazily.

"Be gone!" Koganehiko shouted.

"Or advance and be killed now for your insolence!" Shiroganehiko said.

"Crap, more gatekeepers." Ichigo said, still preparing for a fight, "This Soul Society is just one annoyance after another."

That was when Yoruichi peeked out from behind Ichigo's legs, and the twins seemed to notice her presence.

"Master Yoruichi!" they shouted in unison.

The two began bumbling over apologies until they seemed to come to some sort of agreement with each other. Shiroganehiko continued to stand guard outside the house, while Koganehiko led them inside. As soon as the doors opened, it became apparent that there was nowhere to go but down. A descending staircase was all that was there, it made one wonder how one would reach the upper part of the house.

"A thousand apologies, Master Yoruichi for not recognizing right away that it was you." Koganehiko said once again, "We had no idea that these trespassers were your servants."

Ichigo looked pissed at the comparison, but Harry didn't mind all that much. He'd been called far worse than 'servant' before.

"It's my fault." Yoruichi said unconcerned, "I should have sent word ahead that my companions and I were coming."  
Koganehiko laughed nervously as they reached the bottom of the stairs,

"You're too kind. Such generous words from such a great person." He stopped by a sliding door, facing them, "Please wait here while I announce your arrival."

"Uh, master, we have visitors." He said through the door, then he knelt down, "Now, please enter." He said crouching on his knees, then slid both doors open.

At the end of the room sat a youthful-looking woman with bandages over her messy black hair. She wore a white skirt and provocative red robe that exposed a good portion of her ample bosom. She also had a prosthetic arm.

"Told you." Harry smirked at Uryu who just shot him a disbelieving look in return, then grumbled, "Remind me never to make a bet against you."

Yoruichi approached first, and the woman, Kukaku acknowledged her,

"Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it, Yoruichi?"

She then looked over at Harry and the others who were standing by the door,

"What's this? You seem to have brought a bunch of brats along with you." Kukaku added harshly.

"I shall explain that," Yoruichi gave a small chin dip, "First though, I have a favour to ask of you, Kukaku."

"That is usually the case when you look me up, Yoruichi." Kukaku said coolly. They stared at each other a while, as though trying to seize the other up,

"Is it dangerous?" Kukaku asked at last.

"Probably." Yoruichi said.

Kukaku smirked,

"It's been a long time since we've talked like this…Well, well, my friend. Lucky for you, I enjoy danger. Now, what's the situation and where do I come in?"

As Yoruichi explained all the events that had happened up until that point, Harry closed his eyes and listened to the flow of his magic. It was healthy, he found, doing this every once in a while. It allowed his magic to flow easier later.

Finally, Kukaku seemed satisfied with the story,

"Alright, I think I get the picture." She said, smoking a pipe. And it looked like a rather fancy pipe too, "Eh, what the hell, I'll take the job." She decided.

"Excellent." Yoruichi said, glad she'd managed to convince her old friend to aid their rather diverse group.

"I have some reservations." Kukaku admitted, "But with Urahara involved, how can I say no?"

Harry vaguely wondered about that, he knew Urahara had likely been a Shinigami before his resignation, becoming a shop keeper, but he didn't know the whole story. Yoruichi was also a Shinigami too. He didn't ask though; it was something he'd learned at Fairy Tail. Respect the past, but don't bring it up if it's unnecessary. People carry their wounds, respect them enough not to pick at them. And he did respect Urahara and Yoruichi. They were good people; he could tell just by being around them. Either they left or they were banished. But he wouldn't ask.

Kukaku stood up,

"However, while I trust you completely, Yoruichi, I do not trust these kids accompanying you." She said looking them each over critically, her eyes landed on Harry and seemed to linger there for a while, she frowned, but didn't single him out.

"I'm going to send an overseer just to keep an eye on them for me." She said.

That seemed fair, Harry thought. They were asking her to put her neck on the line for them, it seemed like the least they could do. Plus, one more person would increase their odds, especially if they were a fighter.

"Overseer?" Ichigo asked, it seemed he wasn't too fond of the idea but thankfully Kukaku either ignored or didn't notice his tone.

"Yeah, well, I call him that but he's actually my kid brother." She walked over to another door, "He's not all that useful, and he's kind of a doofus but…he'll have to do."

Wow, Harry thought, way to play him up.

"Hey in there, are you ready?" she called through the door.

"Yes, sis. I'm ready." A distinctly male voice said from the other side, resignedly.

"Alright, I'm opening the door, so behave yourself." She said.

So little confidence, Harry thought, lips twitching in amusement. She opened the door and a man who looked very familiar, bandana and all was bowing from his spot at the doorway.

"It's an honour to meet you. My name is Ganju Shiba." He looked up, smiling, but then caught a glimpse of who was in the room with them.

Ichigo and Ganju both pointed to each other and screamed. Kukaku looked between them in bewilderment,

"You two already know each other?"

Before anyone could say anything else, both Ichigo and Ganju punched each other in the faces. Harry's eye twitched but kept his composure. He let out a sigh, this…wasn't going to go over well with Kukaku…

The woman in question smoked her pipe and watched the fight with a small twitch in her eye.

"Oh dear…" Harry said to himself.

The two stumbled back, then Ichigo grabbed Ganju's head and threw him into the door. Harry winced, they'd have to repair that later, and by 'they' he really meant him.

Ichigo rushed at him, only to be kicked in the face and launched back. Through all of this, Yoruichi, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, and Harry were sitting completely still.

Sometime during the scuffle, the pipe fell out of Kukaku's mouth.

Harry got up from his spot, then, in a flash, he punched both boys in the gut, causing them to fall over and picked up Kukaku's broken pipe.

Harry withdrew his wand from his letter magic and cast a quick reparo, handing it back to her. He waved his wand again, fixing the room.

He then turned to the kneeling boys.

"I believe I told the two of you before…grow up." Harry said menacingly.

Both of them were quaking in their spots, even Yoruichi was shivering and Kukaku had a wide smirk on her face.

"You." Harry glared at Ganju who gulped, "Your sister has guests. And you managed to break Kukaku-san's pipe. I expect you to buy her a new one as an apology."  
"B-but you fixed it." He said meekly.

"Are you saying you'd rather your sister decide your punishment instead?"

"N-n-n-no! I'll buy you a new pipe, sis!" he cried.

"Ichigo." Harry glared at him, "This is not your house. You have no right to come here and start breaking things, especially when I am the one who has to fix them. I want you to apologize to Kukaku on your knees, right now."

Ichigo swallowed, then got on his knees and bowed his head,

"I'm very, very sorry, Kukaku." He stuttered out.

Harry nodded, his expression returning to a more serene one.

"Please accept my apologies, Kukaku-san. It was not my intention for things to get so out of control, and please forgive Ichigo for his insolence."

Kukaku smirked,

"It's cool. Yoruichi, where'd you pick this one up?"

Yoruichi smiled slightly,

"Just sort of stumbled upon him, really."  
"He's fast." Kukaku said, "I expect that has something to do with you."

"I did train him, yes." Yoruichi agreed.

"I could have handled myself, you know." Kukaku said.

"I've no doubts." Harry said, "I trained under this woman, Erza once. She would launch a thousand swords at me and see if I survived the attack. You were kind of reminding me of her just before she launched a huge and highly destructive attack." Harry admitted, "But I didn't want your lovely house to be ruined over the likes of these idiots."

Kukaku smirked,

"Yoruichi, can I keep him?"

"Nope, he's mine." Yoruichi said proudly.

Kukaku sighed,

"Alright then…Alright, everyone on your feet!" she demanded.

Ichigo, Ganju and Koganehiko who'd been at the door stood up abruptly,

"Yes sir!" they replied in unison.

"Koganehiko, you and Shiroganehiko begin preparations outside."

"Understood!" Koganehiko saluted.

"The rest of you, gather up your crap and follow me." She ordered.


	28. Chapter 28

**More of Harry Potters adventures in the Animetopoeia!  
By the way, I was asked by someone if they could use Animetopoeia as a character and create their own version of the story. I said that they could.**

**I'm totally cool with people using Ana in their fanfics to transport Harry to different anime worlds.**

**It would be nice though if you told people about the original story (^_^)**

**Anyways, Harry Potter doesn't belong to me. I do not own it! Nor do I own Fairy Tail or Bleach. But they're all fantastic stories. If you haven't read them, I suggest taking a look.**

**And the story continues…**

They traveled down the halls which were lit rather well considering Harry had never seen an electric generator. Uryu made a comment on this.

"Lots of firefly creeper vines." Kukaku explained.

Harry raised an eyebrow at this, always curious to learn about other plants.

"Don't think I've ever heard of that." Uryu said.

"You wouldn't have." Harry dismissed, "It's not a plant that's found in the world of the living."

"And how do you know?" Uryu asked Harry.

"What do you think that medicine I make is made out of? I have a pretty well-rounded education in plant life. Herbs in particular." Harry added.

"You make medicine?" Kukaku asked, "That seems useful."  
"I'm good at healing." Harry admitted, "But it's not my main focus. I've just gotten so good at it after all the times I've had to use that particular ability."

"Please can I keep him, Yoruichi?" Kukaku asked again.

"Nope." Yoruichi sang, "I found him first."

They stopped outside a heavy metal door with red writing on it.

"Alright then, here we are." Kukaku said, "Open the door, Ganju."

"Yes, sir." Ganju said then practically ran over. He grabbed the handles and pulled it seemed to take a bit of effort, but the door slid open.

Inside it was dark. But the room was big, actually it was enormous, maybe at least twice the size as the great hall at Hogwarts. A giant chimney…no, cannon stood in the middle.

That's what it was, Harry realized, a cannon.

His eyes widened with realization. Oh, this was gonna be fun!

"Whoa…" Orihime said taking a look around, and her words did seem to sum it all up.

"W-what is that thing?" Ichigo wondered, looking at the cannon.

Kukaku approached the metal cylinder,  
"You can quit worrying about getting through the wall." She smirked, "With his launcher, I'll get you all into the Seireitei through the air."

"The air!?" Uryu and Ichigo stuttered out together, they were looking a bit ill.

"Or my name's not Kukaku Shiba, Fireworks Expert of the Rukon district!"

Harry just stared at her wide eyed.

"Fireworks?" Ichigo wondered.

Kukaku smirked,

"That's right." She looked up and yelled, "Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko! Raise it up, now!"

The whole room began to shake, and Harry's grin widened. This just kept getting more and more interesting.

"I-it's the floor, it's going up!" Uryu exclaimed.

The ceiling began to open up and daylight came pouring in. Soon they were up at ground level, standing outside in the open air.

"So, did that scare you kids?" Kukaku smirked, placing a hand on her hip, "This is my one an only enhanced fireworks launch pad."  
"And that's the flower Crane Cannon!" Ganju said just before he was knocked over the head by Kukaku.

"That was my line." She growled as Ganju rubbed the soar spot on his head.

"S-sorry." Ganju apologized.

"Well," she said, "Left you all speechless, didn't I?"

"I know you're supposed to be a pyrotechnical wizard, but I'm still not fully convinced of it." Uryu said, adjusting his glasses, "The idea of shooting us up into the air is completely…"  
He was cut off when a round white ball hit him square in the face. It bounced off of him and Ichigo caught it in his hands.

"What's this?" Ichigo asked looking down at the sphere in his hands.

"It's a reishukaku, or spirit core. Place your palms on it and concentrate your reiatsu." Kukaku explained.

"Hm?" he flipped it over, "Like this?" he began squeezing and prodding at it. His face morphed with concentration, when suddenly he said,

"Can somebody show me how to concentrate my spirit energy?"

Harry nearly fell over at that.

"Huh?" Kukaku asked, "Any Shinigami should easily be able to do that." She lifted out her hand and a blue orb appeared, hanging in the air over her palm, "So you should easily be able to do this."

"Well, actually." Yoruichi interrupted, "He's the substitute Shinigami I told you about earlier. And…he can't use reiatsu at all."

Kukaku's attention returned to Ichigo who's face was still twisted in concentration, trying to focus his reiatsu.

"Yeah, I can see that…" she noted, "This kid is completely hopeless. Ganju, show this armature how it's done."

Ganju flew over to Ichigo, a smirk on his face, probably wanting to show Ichigo up.

"Hey, give it here!" he said, but Ichigo moved it out of reach.

"Ichigo," Harry said with a serene smile on his face, "Give the reishukaku to Ganju."

Ichigo shivered, then quickly handed it over. Ganju shivered as well and decided to just take it from him and not make a scene.

He held it in his hands and hummed. The ball glowed with energy, then a blue bubble expanded over him.

"What's that?" Ichigo wondered.

Kukaku knocked her knuckles against the shield,

"This here, is the cannonball."

"Cannonball?" Uryu wondered.

"Now pay close attention, everybody." Kukaku said, her expression growing serious, "You may think the only thing guarding the Seireitei is that barrier but you are dead wrong. It isn't nearly that simple. That barrier is made from a stone known as Seki Seki. It's rare, even in the soul society." She took out a small pebble from her pocket,

"This is a fragment of it." She slammed her hand down on the ground, the pebble remained intact, and some of the ground around it was unharmed as well, but there was a hole in a ring surrounding it like a moat.

"As you can see, it completely repels reiatsu. Therefore, it's impossible to smash through the barrier with reiatsu alone. Even a small fragment like this emits a wave that repels reiatsu from all sides. Which means…the Seireitei has a spherical barrier which surrounds it, protecting it not only from the sky above, but even bellow the ground."

"Which is why I can't just summon Virgo to dig a tunnel." Harry sighed, "I get it now."

Kukaku smirked,

"So you see," she got up and knocked her knuckles up against the sphere surrounding Ganju again, "That's why we use this."  
Ganju looked practically dead on his feet. He was panting heavily,

"Enough show and tell, I'm tired…"

"Suck it up!" Kukaku ordered, "This cannonball is an extra hard spiritual penetration device I invented. In other words, if all five of you combined put your reiatsu into this reishukaku, you can create a cannonball that can break through the barrier." She looked up at the cannon, "Then I'll use the Flower Crane Cannon to shoot that cannon ball into the sky. It will punch a hole straight through the barrier. Any questions?"

"Uh, well uh, I…" Ichigo began only to be cut off.

"Alright then." Kukaku said, "Now take them to the underground training room where they can concentrate their reiatsu."

Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko sprung into action.

"Get 'em out of here." She said again.

Then the twins picked up Ichigo, Orihime, and Uryu. Chad and Harry were avoided. Chad, because of his large stature and Harry…well, people seemed to be afraid of Harry for some reason.

"Oh right." Harry said, remembering something, "Yoruichi, I have an extra enchanted mirror on me. Should I give it to Ganju or your friend Kukaku?"

"You have an extra?" Yoruichi looked at Harry curiously.

Harry shrugged,

"I had a feeling we'd be needing it…you know, in case Ichigo lost his."

"Why do you think I'm the one who's gonna lose it!?" Ichigo shouted as he was dragged off by Koganehiko.

Harry shrugged,

"Well, your behaviour so far hasn't exactly been a testament to your maturity."

"Enchanted mirror?" Kukaku asked curiously.

"It's something I made." Harry said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a small compact mirror, "The codename on the mirror is 'Green' 'cause I couldn't come up with something better for a guest. Basically, everyone's codename is written down. You look in the glass, say their codename, and they should pick up. When someone tried to communicate with you, the mirror will glow and get warm. To answer it, all you need to say is 'answer.'" Harry shrugged, "Simple."

Kukaku rubbed her chin,

"Impressive, you created this?"

Harry nodded in confirmation.

"Well, I would love to take it, but since you only have one, give it to my brother. He'll be going with you and if he gets lost you can pick him up."  
Harry shrugged, then tossed it to Ganju.

"Take care of that, and don't lose it." Harry said, sending him a chilling smile.

Ganju nodded vigorously up and down, too afraid of Harry to speak.

"Oh, one more thing, if anyone of you guys loses concentration then you'll blow up on the spot." Kukaku added.

"What!?" Ichigo called back as he was dragged away.

"Practice hard." She waved, and Harry followed after his team.

"Thank you, Kukaku-san." Harry sent her a small nod, then reached into his bag and pulled out a few vials of potion, "Please take this as my thanks. This is explosive potion, and this is a flash potion. I made it with common ingredients and an infusion of energy."  
Kukaku picked up the vials,

"Curious, how do they work?"

"Just smash it against the ground and you should get the desired effect." Harry said, "But be careful with that explosive potion. It's potent enough to blow up a house." Harry smiled slightly, "If you add a bigger infusion of spirit energy into it, the explosion will be bigger though."

Kukaku nodded, a smile growing on her face,

"This will be interesting to analyze, I can analyze it, right?"

"Of course." Harry smiled, "That's what I was hoping for. It seemed like something you'd be interested in. I know you're doing this for Yoruichi, but I wouldn't feel comfortable unless I gave you something in exchange as well."

Kukaku smiled,

"You're a weird kid, you know that?"

Harry shrugged,

"So I've been told…"

…

000000000000

..

"No, that's wrong, Ichigo!" the twins said together, making strange gestures and saying a bunch of jumbled words that Harry didn't quite catch. He'd just walked in the door.

"Uh…bad time?" he guessed.

Ichigo was making strange, constipated groans. It hurt just watching him.

Harry grabbed one of the reishukaku and concentrated his energy. A perfect green sphere appeared around him and Ichigo's jaw dropped with disbelief,

"How did you do that?" he demanded.

Harry shrugged,

"I concentrated my energy. I've always been well in control of it…Perhaps, Ichigo, you should try visualization."

"Visualization?" he asked, looking up from the ball.

Harry nodded, looking down at the reishukaku,

"When I was first learning to focus my magic, my teacher, Fay gave me visualization techniques. Right now you're trying to fill up a sphere with energy. Close your eyes." Harry ordered.

Ichigo mumbled something incoherent, but did as he was ordered.

"Picture a balloon." Harry said, "Now picture that balloon filling up with water, trickling from your veins and into this balloon."

Ichigo frowned, but the sphere in his hands began to glow.

"Make if completely full." Harry said, "There is no air inside the balloon. It's just filled with water completely."

The ball began to glow brighter, then a big clue circle seemed to form around Ichigo. Harry smiled,

"Do you sense it now? Just a bit? Hold onto that feeling, keep that balloon full. Don't let it pop, but don't let the water come flowing out either."

Ichigo blinked open his eyes then smiled, a bit of disbelief on his face,

"I did it!" he said.

"Stay focused!" Harry shouted strictly, only for it to be too late.

Harry dew a shield around himself, Chad, Orihime and Uryu as it blew up. Ichigo let out a scream and fell over.

Harry let out a sigh,

"Kukaku told you before, if you lose your focus you'll blow up." He reminded, "Now get up and do it again!"

"O-okay…" he groaned, pushing himself off the ground and putting his hands on the orb again.

Harry lowered the shield, satisfied that Ichigo would probably pay more attention this time.


	29. Chapter 29

**Another Chapter! Whoo! I still have a lot of stuff to publish though…**

**I hope I'm keeping people entertained. I have no idea how many more chapters this is going to take, but there's still a lot!**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail**

An hour later, Koganehiko and Shiroganehiko had them tested. They each held a reishukaku in hand to prove that they could cast a shield. Orihime's was first. She hadn't struggled at all with the concept of focusing her reiatsu and had formed a perfect sphere. Uryu's was second. His was a bit thin, but he got a pass. Chad's was unstable, but it was still powerful. Ichigo's was a lot like Chad's, despite Harry's instruction. Harry's was green, unlike the others which were blue. This had Shiroganehiko and Koganehiko scratching their heads, but it was clear that Harry's was the best and most stable out of all of them.

They braked for supper, then went back to their practice until well into the night. They finally got their shields to an adequate standard, then they went to bed.

…..

0000000000000

…

They rose bright and early the next day. The sun wasn't even out yet.

"Where's Ganju?" Kukaku asked with a frown on her face.

"Last I saw him he was muttering some nonsense to himself." Ichigo said casually.

As though on cue, Ganju appeared around the corner,

"Never fear, Ganju is here!" he was panting quite heavily, sweat marred his forehead, "You should know," He said grinning, "The hero's always the last one to make his entrance."

"Okay…but what's with that outfit?" Ichigo asked.

He looked a lot like a sushi chef, Harry thought. He wore a white robe with green sleeves, black pants with white rings on them, and black sandals and wrist guards. And of course, the small knife on his back with red a ribbon hilt that matched the dark red belt.

"It's my battle outfit." He answered.

Harry himself had wrapped his scarf around his head, covering his face.

"Hey wait, what battle, you're not coming!" Ichigo shouted.

Ganju approached Ichigo angrily,

"My brother…was killed by a Shinigami!"

Kukaku stood up,

"Ganju, don't you dare!"

"Why don't you just listen and let me talk for a change, sister!" Ganju growled, and Harry could tell that this was serious.

Kukaku's lips thinned, but she sat down in an almost out of character way.

"My brother," Ganju continued, staring right at Ichigo, "He was a brilliant man. He passed the Shinigami Academy entrance exam on his first try. At that time, his reiatsu level was at sixth class, that's about the same level of a lieutenant. Then, he finished a six-year curriculum in one year. He became a member of a squad. In just five years, he became a lieutenant. But he was betrayed by his comrades!"

Harry could see the pain in his eyes. He thought back to Fairy Tail and how everyone there wouldn't even think to betray any member of the guild. Sure, it had always seemed…more hopeful there, more full of laughter and happiness, acceptance of the darkness that each of them bore. Here…it was a lot different. But after spending time there, Harry wasn't sure he could ever even think of betraying a true friend.

"His own Shinigami allies led him to his grave!" Ganju continued, "I was still just a kid back then, so I don't remember all the details of what happened. But there are two things I'll never forget. Faces…those two faces…That cruel face of the Shinigami as he dragged the mangled body of my brother back home. And the face of my dear dying brother, happily giving thanks to that same Shinigami."

He was thanking him, Harry wondered silently to himself. It seemed there was more to this story…

"Why did he do that?" Ganju's face contorted into frustration, "Why would my brother be so forgiving? To this day…I just don't know." His eyes traveled down to the ground sadly, "But there's one thing I do understand. For some reason, my brother never blamed the Shinigami…and he never hated them. But I don't understand why!" He grabbed Ichigo's collar, "Why did he continue to believe in them? Even to the bitter end! Somehow you seem different from the other Shinigami." He said, his and Ichigo's faces only inches apart.

"That's what I think. I think you're different. And I think that if I go with you, I might discover something important. I'm willing to go with you into the heart of enemy territory to discover what being a Shinigami really means." He released Ichigo's collar and the orange haired boy stumbled back.

"Oh, Ganju…" Orihime said sadly.

"Ganju!" Koganehiko said.

"Such a fine young man you've become." His twin added, both of them were crying.

Harry shook his head, these people were certainly dramatic…but, somehow he could understand, wanting to know more about the circumstances surrounding the death of a loved one…sometimes Harry felt his whole life revolved around his parents' death.

Kukaku chuckled,

"Well it sounds like you've got your mind made up about this." She smirked.

Ichigo seemed to think it over, his eyes running over Ganju's face until he finally came to a decision, he grabbed Ganju's robe and pulled him forwards.

"You and me then." He said, announcing his decision.

Ganju smiled, thankfully,

"You and me."

"Alright then," Yoruichi announced, she'd jumped up onto the platform surrounding the cannon, "Are you all ready for the cannonball?"

"Yes." They all said together.

Ichigo looked down at the reishukaku he'd picked up off the ground,

"Hey, I just thought of something." He said, "Do you know how to make a cannonball?" he asked Yoruichi.

The cat's eyes narrowed, and Harry smirked, though no one could tell from underneath his scarf-mask.

"Actually, that's a good question." Yoruichi said, deciding to play along, "I guess I ought to give it a try."

She received a few panicked looks, and Harry could guess that they were wondering what they'd do if Yoruichi couldn't do it. Harry had to hold back a snicker.

"Don't tell me this is your first attempt." Uryu said panicking.

Yoruichi jumped down from the platform,

"Put that down on the floor, Ichigo."

Ichigo dropped in, none too gently. Once it stopped rolling around Yoruichi jumped on top of it. The orb glowed, then a perfect blue sphere appeared. They all looked at the cat dumbly. Yoruichi gave a satisfied hum,

"Just as I suspected, the task was as natural as breathing in and out."

Orihime clapped her hands,

"Wow, Yoruichi! In one try you did something that took us forever to learn…well, minus Harry."

Ichigo had fallen to the ground in dismay.

"I can see it bothers you, but I don't know why. You'll learn that there are many things I can do that are beyond your reach."

Harry chuckled slightly.

"Hey, Ganju." Kukaku said.

Ganju approached the platform, and swiftly jumped up.

"Were you able to master it as well?" Kukaku asked, eyes narrowed as though daring him to say 'no.'

"I think so." Ganju said.

"Then we'll use flower crane canon launch method number two." She said decidedly, "Alright?"

"Very well." Her brother said with a head bob.

There was a small staring contest between the two siblings.

"You better not chicken out during the middle of the launch, you little brat." Kukaku said with a hint of fondness.

"I would never do that." Ganju said firmly.

Kukaku smirked,

"Not afraid to lay your life on the line?"

"No! No way!" he said, voice raised with resolve.

She shot him one last smile, then shouted,

"If you're all ready to go, then the final countdown begins now!" she slammed her fist against the cannon and a big circular entrance appeared.

"Get inside, everyone." She ordered.

They each walked, single file through the entrance, it closed one they were all inside. They then stood in a circle, all of them placing one hand on the reishukaku.

"The sun will be rising soon." Kukaku said, in an almost absent voice and though he couldn't see her, Harry had the sense that she was gazing out at the horizon, "That will be the signal to begin the launch ceremony."

Her voice was now traveling around them in a circle.

"Now listen," Yoruichi said, "Once we're inside the Seireitei it's important that we stick together. If you should encounter any captains, don't fight them. Don't even think about it. Just run. Our goal is to save Rukia, you understand? You must avoid taking any unnecessary risks."

Kukaku's voice filtered in through the cannon, she seemed to be chanting.

"Now it has begun!" Yoruichi announced, "Pour your reiatsu into the center!"  
Harry had to focus on not pouring too much into the sphere, but not too little either. He kept his energy at a balance amount, but when he noticed Ichigo's reiatsu not coming in at a steady stream, Harry had to work to stabilize it slightly so that the whole thing wouldn't blow up in their faces. Yoruichi was working on controlling Chad's, Harry could feel it.

The orb appeared around them, slightly mixed with green from Harry's magic.

Suddenly they were traveling upwards, they shot up and up until there wasn't even a cannon anymore, but they still traveled up, high into the sky.

Harry was used to such heights, thankfully, from riding his broom. But he noticed some queasy looks and he knew that things were going to start getting difficult.

"Somehow I thought blast off would be more explosive." Ichigo said, he didn't seem too bothered by the height.

"That was only the start, you simpleton." Ganju grinned.

The cannon seemed to pause in mid-air, hen suddenly it was flying, changing course. He probably should have been expecting that, Harry thought to himself. It wasn't an ordinary cannon, after all.

Ganju reached into the folds of his robe and pulled out a long piece of paper.

"What is that thing?" Ichigo asked as Ganju looked over the words.

"These are the directions for the last stage of the launch. The first stage of flower crane cannon number two is just the blast off its self. Now we go to the secondary spell which controls the speed and acts as an adjustment. This will help with the precision guidance. Right, so stay out of my way if you want to land safely." Ganju said looking at Ichigo.

"Alright, I will." Ichigo rolled his eyes.

"Now there's just one more thing I have to explain to you all." Ganju said, "In order to enter the Seireitei successfully, we have to stabilize this cannonball. That requires keeping the reiatsu output form all of us at a constant level. And to do that, keep your eyes on the center crystal so you'll be able to see how much the others are releasing. Then simply adjust your reiatsu release accordingly."  
They all nodded, eyes now trained on the inner crystal of the reishukaku.

"One mistake and that's it. We'll all die." Ganju grinded his teeth together.

They all began focusing their output in the crystal. Harry's was constant and seemed to flow pretty well, but some of them were having some trouble and Ganju began his chant.

"Ichigo, I think you're releasing too much energy." Orihime said, struggling to keep her output constant with Ichigo's overwhelming power.

"You really think I am?" Ichigo asked, "Alright then, I'll back off." Ichigo closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. The energy he was releasing lessened.

"Ichigo, you've gotta lower it a little bit more." Uryu said.

"What? Are you kidding me? But I've already lowered my output by almost half!"

"Ichigo…" Chad begged in his same monotone.

"Alright, alright I'm working on it!" he said, he was panicking slightly, though he managed to control his reiatsu well despite the pressure.

He'd really learned a lot, Harry thought.

"You've got to lower it more." Chad said again.

"I know; I know…there I lowered it almost all the way." Ichigo said satisfied.

But Ganju was frustrated with all the talking and recited the same line twice,

"Would you shut up!" he shouted, "You're making me repeat myself!"  
"Don't blame me just because you can't remember your stupid little chant!" Ichigo shot back.

"That stupid chant just might save your life if you could just shut your big yap!" Ganju shouted and the two head butted each other.

"Cut it out you two." Orihime said worriedly, "This is no time to be arguing about who did what when we're all in danger!"

"She's right, stop this!" Uryu shouted, "You're going to upset the balance of the spirit energy!"  
"Hey look, what's that?" Chad asked looking down.

"It's the Seireitei!" Ganju realized.

Electric sparks danced across the shield as they began plummeting down.

"We're going to crash!" Uryu shouted.

"The only way you're going to survive this is if you pour in all the reiatsu you've got!" Yoruichi said.

Suddenly the output into the orb increased. Boom! They collided with the force field around the Seireitei. Blue waves pulsed around them and electricity lit the air.

"Push through!" Ichigo said, and his reiatsu output seemed to suddenly increase.

Sadly, the shield didn't hold and they all seemed to float there, suspended in mid-air.

"W-what's going on?" Ichigo asked looking around wildly, "We blasted through the shield, but we're not falling to the ground. We're just floating here!"

"Don't get separated!" Yoruichi called out, "The cannonball was destroyed by the shield. But it's residual energy will hold us up until it dissolves."

"And what happens then?" asked Uryu darkly.

"It will gather into a whirlpool, then vanish. We must stick together, because anyone who is separated will get blown away by the explosion!"  
Suddenly the air alit with blue and green light. They were being thrown about, then sucked into the vortex.

"We're in the whirlpool!" Yoruichi cried.

Harry watched in astonishment as Ganju moved through the air and grabbed hold of Ichigo. Harry realized he probably wouldn't be able to grab them in time…shame too considering. He'd managed to travel the furthest from them all.

"Grab the person closest to you, and hold on tight! Don't let go no matter what!" Yoruichi ordered.

Chad grabbed Orihime, though somehow he'd managed to hold her upside down. Uryu tried to grab Chad's hand but was thrown away. Chad let go of Orihime and went after Uryu.

Chad grabbed onto Uryu who was out of the whirlpool, then threw him towards Orihime.

"That idiot!" Harry hissed.

"There's nothing we can do about it now." Yoruichi said, "I can almost promise you though that Chad will survive. But if you want to reunite with him on the surface, I suggest worrying about your own survival first."

Ichigo watched Chad fall, glowing a brilliant yellow light.

"Remember the enchanted Mirrors." Harry called out, it was clear to him that he wasn't going to reach any of them, "They'll help us stay in communication, hopefully…Hey, I wonder if we'll be able to contact Urahara from here."

"Harry, now is not the time." Yoruichi deadpanned.

"What? I can't be curious to see if the range of my device can traverse dimensions?" Harry pouted.

Then he fell from the vortex.

"Harry!" he heard them all shout.

He was surrounded in a brilliant golden light. His first thought being,

"This isn't so bad…"

Then he realized that he was about to make impact with the ground and summoned his word magic into a shield. He impacted and the ground explosion, but Harry remained safe.

He shook himself, getting up from the crater.

"Gotta move fast." He murmured to himself, no doubt several people had seem that and would be at his location.

He shunpoed to the roof, getting his barring's, then shunpoed again. He found a nice secluded looking spot and opened up hi compact mirror,

"Strawberry." Harry said the codename, best contact Ichigo first.

Ichigo, however didn't pick up. Ichigo had been with Gonju though, so…

"Green." Harry said.

This time someone did pick up.

"Harry!" Ganju said, "You're safe!"

"Yes I am. Have any of the others contacted you yet?"

"Not." Ganju said seriously, "And…though I'd love to talk, I'm currently running for my life."

"You were with Ichigo. Is he running too?" Harry asked.

"No, he's in a fight…"

"Now why would someone so ugly need such a beautiful looking mirror?" a background voice asked.

Ganju let out a gasp, then closed the compact.

"Great." Harry thought, "So Ganju and Ichigo have found trouble."

Oh well, he was pretty sure they would be alright.

"Arrow." Harry said.

Uryu picked up right away.

"Harry!" Uryu exclaimed, relief showed on his face, "I just contacted Chad, he says he's fine. Orihime and I are together but…Orihime's unconscious. I was just performing first aid on her shoulder. It's not that bad an injury and from what I can tell, she should be okay." He said quickly as though trying to reassure him.

Harry let out a sigh of relief,

"That's good. I've managed to contact Ganju. Him and Ichigo are in a fight. And I don't mean with each other this time." Harry added, "Try not to contact them for a while. I'm gonna try to see if I can find a bit of information. Keep in touch. This place is like a maze, but if you keep your eye on the tower you should be able to tell your location from it's relative position."

"I see." Uryu said looking up, "That's a good idea. I'm gonna hang up now."

"Okay, see you soon." Harry said, clicking the compact shut. He flipped it open again, "Hat n' clogs."

The compact buzzed a moment, he was getting some interference, when suddenly, Urahara's face appeared.

"What's up, Raven?" he asked.

"We're in the Seireitei but we got separated." Harry explained, "I was mostly just trying to see if I could contact you from here…but now I want a bit of information."

"Information?" Urahara asked seriously.

"Yes." Harry's eyes narrowed, "I find it odd…Rukia's crimes consist of giving her powers to a human and refusing to return to the Soul Society, correct?"

"That is correct." Urahara agreed.

"But she's going to be executed." Harry said, as though trying to fit together several pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together.

"I see you've noticed." Urahara confirmed, "The crime does not fit the punishment. Never in the history or the Soul Society has a Shinigami been executed for a power transfer and resisting orders like that. A couple of millennia ago, a Shinigami gave their powers to a human who went out of control and got five years. All instances before that varied from a slap on the wrist to a maximum of six months. Which means, considering all that…someone else is pulling the strings."

"And you know who." Harry finished, "But you aren't gonna say anything."

"Sosuke Aizen." Urahara sighed, proving Harry wrong. "Captain of the fifth division. I want you to avoid him at all cost. He's been hiding his true strength for years. He's far more powerful than he's let any of the other captains believe."

Harry nodded,

"I plan on avoiding confrontation with any of the captains all together." He said, "But that does make me think…who exactly is in charge of the judicial branch? Does Aizen have them in his pocket?" Harry paused, "Hat n' clogs, I'm gonna use codenames from now on. Mister Evil seems like a good name for the guy we're talking about."

Urahara's eyes narrowed,

"Is someone there, Raven?"

"I'll call you back." Harry closed the compact and stuffed it into his bag.

Just then, a blade was pressed up against his neck, someone with immense reiatsu was standing from behind.

Judging from the angle of the blade, Harry would have to guess that they were shorter than him, which he actually felt rather happy about. Wasn't that sad? He thought sarcastically, that he was happy his attacker was shorter than him.

"Who were you talking about just now, and who are you?" it was a younger sounding voice.

Harry raised his hands, then slowly turned around. There was a boy with spiky white hair and turquoise eyes in a white captains hakusho. Harry cursed mentally, of course he'd have to run into a captain.

But…he hadn't made a move to arrest him. Interesting…

"Do you really want to know?" Harry asked him, eyes narrowed.

The captain's eyes widened just a fraction of a second, but otherwise he remained expressionless.

"Tell me."

Harry looked him over,

"If you insist…Don't you think it's…odd?"

The captain's eyes narrowed.

"Rukia Kuchiki. Would you say her punishment fits her crime? I was getting information, from a former Shinigami, mind you. There have been instances in the past where other Shinigami have transferred their powers over to a human. None of them were ever sentenced to death. Five years in prison was the most recent one before Rukia-san. But that was only because the human went out of control and did horrible things. The ones before that got a slap on the wrist to six months. You can look this up if you don't believe me." Harry added as the captain's eyes narrowed.

"And you have come to save her?" he said this as more of a statement.

"Well…that's the idea." Harry admitted.

"And you're freely giving me this information?"

Harry chuckled slightly,

"I'm not giving you anything you can't figure out on your own." His eyes scanned the captain over, "And I have a feeling you'd figure it out without me telling you anyhow."

The captain hesitated,

"I have noticed some strange things happening lately." He admitted, "But I'm afraid I can't just let you get away. Come quietly and I'll see about getting you a proper interrogation."

"I'm afraid I can't take up your offer." Harry said softly, "I made a promise, and I intend to keep it."

Harry felt slightly shocked when he realized he was echoing Syaoran's words.

Harry stepped away from the blade quickly, just as the captain swung.

"You're fast." The captain noted, then took a small step back, shifting his stance, "Here, it is customary to state your name before an opponent. My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya. Captain of the tenth division."

"Harry Potter." Harry introduced, "And I'm afraid I don't have any titles other than that."

Hitsugaya readied his blade, then launched himself forwards, Harry got out his sword quickly.

"What!?" he shouted, surprised by the sudden materialization.

Harry parried Hitsugaya's blade. The captain struck again, twice, gaging Harry's skills. Their swords clashed as Harry swung Reyearth, then he jabbed again, managing to cut Hitsugaya's sleeve.

Harry shunpoed over to him, then their blades clashed again with more force. The ground beneath their feet broke with the force Harry exerted and now the small captain seemed to be struggling to keep up. Harry flipped in mid-air and took a stance, the same one Erza had taught him. He switched up his style and began attacking again, faster. Then he switched back to the style the Baron had taught him, catching Hitsugaya off guard, and drawing blood from his shoulder.

"You switch styles." He noted.

Harry nodded,

"I had two very different teachers. I've developed my own style, but when I imitate other fighting styles it tends to catch people off guard."

Hitsugaya tilted his blade upwards, blue-white reiatsu surrounded him,

"I can tell you aren't going to be an easy opponent."

Harry began releasing his own magical energy.

"I don't plan on it." He said, a soft, mint green light swirled around him, Reyearth began to glow. But it was Hitsugaya who made the first move.

The captain's reiatsu became intense. The sky grew dark and clouds began to cover up the sky.

"Souten ni zase…Hyourinmaru!" it was a zanpakutou release.

Water and ice began to swirl around Hitsugaya's blade, then formed into a water dragon. He had a water and ice type Zanpakutou…interesting. His energy did feel cold…

"Obey thy command! Fire gods, come forth!" Harry shouted, a dragon of fire formed around his own blade, and collided with the ice.

"What?" Hitsugaya asked.

The attack gave off a wave of pressure and turned into steam. Harry's blade glowed with energy, it was practically buzzing.

"Obey thy command! Gods of thunder, come forth!" Electricity danced around his blade, then shot out at Hitsugaya who tried to dodged, only to let out a cry as he was hit by the dangerous element. He fell to one knee, but stood up again using his blade to keep his balance for a moment, until holding it out in front of himself again.

Harry readied himself, then took off in shunpo. Hitsugaya did the same, though it was clear that he was no match for Harry's speed. Harry got a couple of cuts and wounds but he knew that he was the one that was winning in the match.

Hitsugaya stood back, he was bloody, with one eye closed to keep the blood out of his eye. He still held his sword out defiantly. Harry could feel his energy gathering.

"Bankai." He said, and all his reiatsu was released.

Icy blue wings of ice came out of his back, a dragon head seemed to cover his hand. It was an impressive display; it was like…like the two of them were truly fighting as one now. But Harry noticed three flowers floating above him.

"I see…" Harry said, "In that case I won't hold back either. Crystals of Celes!" He summoned the crystals which shot at Hitsugaya with such an intense speed, it clearly hit one of his wings. Only, the wing reformed once again.

"Obey thy command! Gods of thunder!" the lightning shot out, but this time Hitsugaya dodged out of the way,

"That won't work, Souten ni zase, Hyourinmaru!"

The ice dragons came a lot faster this time, but Harry got out of the way, then sliced through the dragons.

Hitsugaya's eyes widened with surprise when he realized Harry wasn't being effected by the ice. Harry then began letting the electricity flow through his body, increasing his speed. This was not a technique he liked to use, however.

Suddenly, Harry was everywhere at once. But Hitsugaya stabbed him, nicking his side slightly. It was a deep wound, but Harry vaguely saw the movement, and stabbed him as well.

Hitsugaya let out a gasp, Harry had slashed all the way from the hip to the shoulder.

He'd gotten him!

The remaining flower, and there was only one left, shattered and the boy-captain fell to the ground, forming another crater.

Harry landed awkwardly, stumbling a bit and grabbing his side.

"Shit, that's a deep one." He got rid of Reyearth in a squiggle of letters, then summoned his wand, "Vulnera Sanentur." He said, and the wound in his side healed up, knitting its self together.

Harry looked at the young captain with concern. He wouldn't last long with those wounds…

"Damnit." He said, then approached him, casting another Vulnera Sanentur over his major wounds, which quickly closed up.

Harry made a move to leave, but then thought of something. He cast a disillusionment charm on himself…then waited.


	30. Chapter 30

**Yes! Chapter Thirty! I still have a long way to go…**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail**

A woman with reddish blond hair and a rather ample chest barely covered by her Shinigami uniform came running. Her eyes widened when she saw Hitsugaya.

"Hitsugaya-taichou!" she shouted, then made her way over, she looked at him rather terrified that he might be dead.

"There's so much blood…" she then summoned a black butterfly and whispered something to it. The butterfly flew off.

Interesting, Harry thought, that must be their means of communication. She began removing his robes to get a better look at his wounds, only to find that there were none.

"What?" she wondered.

Hitsugaya let out a groan,

"M-Matsumoto?" he wondered, then sat up, looking down at his chest, "But how?" he frowned, "That Ryoka got me good. He slashed right from my hip to my collar bone." He moved his shoulder, "It's like…but there's blood." He frowned.

"What does it mean, Taichou?" she asked him confused.

Hitsugaya frowned,

"It means…that the Ryoka I fought had a strange ability…or he was a healer."

"A healer, Taichou?" the woman questioned, "But…from the wounds you were describing, you shouldn't have been able to heal so fast."

His jaw set into a firm line.

"That man possessed a strange reiatsu. It was…off somehow. Like it wasn't really reiatsu but something else…" he frowned.

Harry raised an eyebrow, that was interesting. Hitsugaya seemed to catch on quickly. Rukia and Uryu hadn't caught onto that fact…Captains really were on a different level…

"And you think this energy allowed him to heal you?" the woman asked curiously, not as skeptically as Harry had thought she'd be with the information she was being given.

"I think so…that man could manipulate the elements, and not just one like me. And whenever he did, his energy would change to compensate it."

"Do you think all the Ryoka are this powerful?" the woman asked seriously.

"I certainly hope not." Hitsugaya said seriously, "If all of them can take on a captain…"

"We'll be in trouble." Matsumoto finished.

Just then a black butterfly came down from the sky and landed on the woman's finger.

"What is it?" Hitsugaya demanded.

"Third seat Ikkaku Madarame just went up against one of the Ryoka…he was defeated." She reported grimly.

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed, he got up, then winced.

"Taichou, are you alright?" Matsumoto asked with concern.

"I'm just a bit sore." He rubbed his chest where there had once been a wound, "It doesn't feel like I'm tearing anything. It's like…the muscle is a bit stiff."

"Maybe you should go see the fourth squad for a check up." Matsumoto suggested, "Unohana-Taichou might be able to get information on what that Ryoka used to heal you."

Hitsugaya agreed,

"We'll go, then I need to file a report." He turned around decidedly and stormed off.

Harry hummed once he'd disappeared. So that was the captain of the tenth squad…he would definitely be fun to mess with. Harry grinned, then shook his head, he really needed to remember why he was there in the first place.

But…he might be able to get more information out of Hitsugaya…he seemed to be on to something, though Harry didn't know what that could be.

Harry leaped into the air and shunpoed away, now he had a goal in mind, find the tenth division.

Harry hid in the shadows when he sensed a group of Shinigami getting close. Then he attacked. There were three of them. He knocked them over the back of the head and dragged them away into a corner. He stripped one of them of their clothes, then transformed into his street clothes and changed into the uniform. Harry was a bit upset to find it was slightly too big for him. So he took the girl's uniform instead.

To his embarrassment, it actually fit him well. Not wanting to leave either of them without clothes, Harry left them some clothes from his own bag.

"Sorry about this." He murmured.

He summoned Reyearth into his hands and stole the sheath of one of their zanpakutous and placed it on his hip. He put his own sword into the sheath.

Now, with his disguise he looked exactly like any other Shinigami. He Shunpoed away from the scene and ran right pass a group of Shinigami without arousing any suspicion.

He stopped one of them on his way, deciding that now was the time to put his disguise into action.

"U-um, excuse me." Harry said, pretending to be timid.

"Huh?" a gruff older man asked, "What do you want, kid?" he looked him over, "Don't tell me you're lost." He said.

"Maybe a little." Harry scratched the back of his head trying to look embarrassed, "I only recently started working at the tenth division but…I still can't find my way around." He pouted.

The man sighed,

"Just head due South of here, you should be able to get back to the tenth. It's right over that way." He pointed, "If you jump up on the wall you should be able to see it."

Harry blinked a few times,

"I didn't even think of that!" he exclaimed.

The man chuckled, obviously finding Harry's 'obliviousness' endearing.

"Thank you so much for your help!" He jumped up onto the wall and waved to him.

"Not a problem, you aren't the first kid I've had to help over the past few days. You'll get used to the layout eventually, so don't worry."

"I hope you're right." Harry smiled, then jumped back down. He knew where to go now, "Thank you, sir…er, what was your name? I'm sorry?"

"Ryo Testudo." He introduced, "I'm from the third division."

"Oh, I see. My name is Syaoran Li." Harry introduced, he was pretty sure Syaoran wouldn't mind him using his name.

"Well then, Syaoran-kun, I guess I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later, Tetsuda-san." Harry said, rushing off towards the tenth division.

This was a lot of fun, he felt like a super spy!

No, bad Harry, stay focused! He reprimanded himself as he sped through the maze system. If only there were some snakes around that would tell him where he ought to go…

After nearly an hour of searching, he found the tenth division. It was a rather large building with a slanted red, old Japanese style roof. It had the kanji for ten written at the top. It seemed very clean somehow. Most of the Seireitei seemed clean, of course. You couldn't find a speck of dirt anywhere, but this place seemed to reek of cleanliness and discipline.

He passed several people inside, none of which shot him a second glance. Harry found that most of the tenth division compound was outside. It was separated into different buildings. Harry walked around, trying to look rushed. It wasn't difficult to blend in. The whole place was in a state of chaos.

Hitsugaya's office was outside near the corner of an old, but not warn looking wall. It sat sort of in the corner of the square that made up the division. It was identified by the old golden slanted roof and the number ten painted in kanji on either side of it's wooden doors.

Harry knocked on the door and found that Hitsugaya wasn't in yet…well, that was fine. He was getting hungry anyways.

He made his way inside and sat down on the sofa, setting his bag down on the coffee table and rummaging through it. He pulled out a sandwich and some tea and began eating.

Once he was done with his sandwich he continued sipping on his tea. Harry's foot kicked up against something, and he realized it was a stack of papers.

That seemed out of place. He picked up a pile of them and sorted through a couple of sheets. It looked like it was a budget…paper work? They had paper work in the afterlife? Well that sucked…

Harry got out a pen and began to fill it out cause…he was bored. Harry looked up when he felt two familiar reiatsu energies colliding. Ichigo and that red-haired lieutenant from before.

"Oh dear," Harry sighed, "What have you gotten yourself into now, Ichigo?"

He set the completed form down on the coffee table, then took another sip of tea. He filled out another paper…Did the division need more money for repairs?

He heard something blow up in the distance.

That would be a 'yes.'

He continued on with the pile until he was nearly half-way through.

"Huh, with Hitsugaya-taichou in charge you'd think a lot of this stuff would have been done the moment it was brought in."

From the time he'd fought the captain, Harry had the sense that Hitsugaya was a very disciplined captain.

It was dark out at this point and Harry made himself some more tea. Then there were voices talking from outside.

"I'm telling you Matsumoto, I don't need any help!"  
"But Taichou…" Matsumoto's voice whined.

"If you want to help me then do your paperwork!"

The door slid open abruptly and Hitsugaya and his lieutenant paused by the door. A vein seemed to pulse in the small taicho's head and he turned to the woman angrily,

"MATSUMOTO!" he shouted.

Wow, he had an impressive set of lungs, Harry thought covering his ears.

"You got someone else to do your paperwork again!?"

"No, not this time, Taichou, I swear…I don't even know who he is." She said genuinely confused.

"She didn't tell me to come in here or do the work or anything." Harry said tilting his head to the side, "I was waiting in here and I found this enormous pile of papers under the sofa. I got kinda bored so I thought I'd do it…by the way, how much more money do you think you'll need for repairs? I said fifty million…but with all the explosions I kind of suspect you'll need more."

Hitsugaya's eye twitched, he grabbed a paper of the coffee table and looked it over.

"Did he do a good job, Taichou?" Matsumoto asked.

"He did." Hitsugaya said, "But you should still do your own paperwork."

"Oh…" She moaned, "But with…I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Oh right." Harry said, "Um, Hitsugaya-taichou and I met earlier today." Harry smiled.

Hitsugaya frowned,

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you."

Harry blinked,

"Oh…well, I was wearing a different outfit. Just a sec." Letter magic swirled around him and Hitsugaya's eyes widened.

Matsumoto drew her Zanpakutou,

"A Ryoka!? Wait…" She paused, "Taichou…the Ryoka healed you…and then did my paperwork."

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched,

"So it would seem…Why did you heal me!? Why are you here, and what was that just now?" he demanded.

"In order." Harry said, "I didn't want you to die, 'cause, well, I kind of like you. Plus, you weren't really trying to kill me, you wanted answers. Which, I plan on giving you voluntarily if you'll allow me."

Matsumoto blinked a few times, then lowered her Zanpakutou,

"Huh, that's convenient."

"As to why I'm here…I'm gonna refer back to my previous answer. Then the last question…that was magic."

"Magic?" Hitsugaya frowned, "Do you take me for a fool?"

Harry scrunched his nose,

"Just a minute, I won't attack, promise. Just watch." He summoned his wand into his hand, "Colovaria."

Hitsugaya's hair turned a bright, vivid blue.

"Amazing!" Matsumoto clapped.

"What is?" Hitsugaya wondered, not being able to see his own hair.

Harry grinned,

"Colovaria." Matsumoto's hair turned into a bright purple.

"Ooh!" she said.

"It's a color changing charm." Harry explained, "Magic can do a lot of things." To prove his point, Harry transfigured Hitsugaya's desk into a pig which began walking around the room, snorting.

"My desk!" Hitsugaya shouted.

"That's incredible!" Matsumoto said again, "Can you turn my hair just a touch lighter than it was before? I've been thinking about adding highlights…"

"Of course."  
"Change my desk back first!"

Once Harry had turned everything back to normal, He took a seat,

"So…yeah, I'm a wizard. Hello." He said.

"But you beat Taichou, so you must be strong." Matsumoto said, fishing for some information.

"I guess." Harry said thoughtfully, "I'm not the strongest on our team though. I'm not gonna reveal too much about my friends. I'm not gonna betray them."

"Yet you came here to give me information." Hitsugaya said, his eyes took on a look of calculation.

"Of course, I did." Harry blinked, "You're obviously onto something yourself. I was hoping we could swap information."

"So this is an exchange then." Hitsugaya realized, "I looked into what you were talking about…earlier about the execution."

"And what did you find?" Harry asked, knowing that his source was accurate.

"You were right. This execution doesn't make sense." He admitted, "Not only that…but they're moving up the execution date"  
Harry's eyes widened,

"I was not aware of that."

"It's customary to give the prisoner one month before their execution." Hitsugaya explained, "There is no reason to go against the custom. Someone wants Rukia Kuchiki dead…but for what reason?"

Harry grimaced,

"That's where my source comes in. You know, I was just about to get more information out of him until you came in." He accused.

"That wasn't very nice, taichou." Matsumoto scolded.

"Oh, shut up." Hitsugaya said annoyed.

"Oh right," Harry said, "I made tea. Would you like some, Matsumoto-san?"

"I'm not really a tea sort of person." She admitted.

"If you add sake to it, it tastes really good. Or so I've been told."  
"Yes please!" she sang.

Hitsugaya put a hand to his face and Harry was pretty sure he heard him mumble something along the lines of,

"Why me…?"

Once Harry had poured Matsumoto a cup of tea with sake in it, then a glass without alcohol for Hitsugaya and himself, they sat down and began to discuss things.

"You know, Taichou, I think Potter-san here might be the most helpful enemy we've ever had." Matsumoto said conversationally.

"Oh, that's nice of you to say." Harry said shooting her a smile through his scarf.

"Let's get down to business." Hitsugaya said, and it looked like he couldn't take much more of the craziness that Harry seemed to bring with him.

"What can you tell me? Who's behind this?"

Harry sighed,

"All I got was a name from my informant. A man named Sosuke Aizen."

Matsumoto let out a gasp. Hitsugaya's eyes widened,

"Are you sure?" the captain demanded.

Harry nodded,

"I was told to avoid him at all costs." He pulled a compact mirror from his pocket.

"A compact?" Matsumoto wondered.

"It's an enchanted mirror." Harry explained, "I can contact my friends and anyone else who has one. We each have a codename, see. When we speak the codename into the mirror, we can contact whoever else. Hat n' clogs." He spoke into the glass.

There was a bit of static, but then an image of a tired looking Urahara appeared,

"Raven-kun, it's far too late for this." He complained.

"Sorry about that." Harry said, "But I've managed to make a bit of an ally I think…well, I'm kind of hoping you could tell me more about Aizen. I'm going to need a bit more information. My hope is that through this ally I can have someone investigate the true purpose behind Rukia-san's execution."

Urahara's eyes turned serious,

"Sounds dangerous. How trustworthy is this ally?"

"I'm trusting him with a lot right now." Harry said, "I happen to be sitting in his office and he hasn't turned me in."  
Urahara hummed,

"Alright, I trust your judgement, Harry-kun. I'm assuming we aren't using nicknames."

Harry shrugged,

"Guess not. So, what can you tell me about Aizen."

"His Zanpakutou ability creates a state of complete hypnosis." Urahara explained, "So, if he releases his Zanpakutou…well, make sure you lose your eyes before hand, otherwise…he can basically control any one of your senses at any time."

Harry's eyes narrowed,

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is."

"I wonder though…" Harry said, putting two fingers to his scarf covered chin, "I think…I heard of something about that in one of my books." He began pulling out the books in his bag, leafing through it, "There was something in here…it was in one of the books on Fiore magic, I'm sure. It was about a type of magic that caused a similar effect."

"You think you might be able to counter Aizen's Zanpakutou?" Urahara asked with interest.

"Maybe." Harry nodded, "But I'll need time. I don't know how much…If I can get this done quick then…maybe no more than a few days."

"Gin Ichimaru." Hitsugaya said and Harry looked up, "Who?"

"The third division captain." Urahara elaborated for him, "Is that your ally talking, Harry-kun?"

"Yup, but I'm not gonna reveal his name to anyone unless he wants me to. He has his own skin to protect."

"Thank you." Hitsugaya said sincerely, "Gin Ichimaru is the third division captain as your…contact said. I think he might be working with Aizen."

"Hitsugaya-taichou…do you really believe…" Matsumoto trailed off.

"It would be a horrible blow." Hitsugaya said, a small frown marring his features, "If it really is Aizen, then he's played his cards well. He's very…unassuming when you think about it. About the last person anyone would ever suspect."

"Do you think it's just those two?" Harry asked curiously, "We're talking about two captains, remember."

Hitsugaya nodded,

"I don't know if it's just those two. And after you brought Aizen up as a suspect, I don't know who would be best to trust…but we are going to need help." He admitted, "You said there's four other people on your team who might be able to take on a captain, is that right?"

"I should think so." Harry agreed, thinking along the same lines, "We're going to need something to counteract that complete hypnosis though. Do you mind if I work in here? Or does this place get too crowded?"

"No, people always knock before they enter, so you should be safe." Hitsugaya said, "Can you really counteract it though?"

"I'm not gonna make any promises." Harry said slowly, "But this 'complete hypnosis' is a lot like a type of magic I've heard about before. I'll see if I can find any information on it first in my books, then I'll start either making a spell or ruin array to counter it."

Harry began pulling out stacks of books from his bag.

"Wow…how does your bag hold all of that?" Matsumoto wondered curiously.

"It's a normal bag, but I modified it to be bigger on the inside." Harry explained, getting out a notebook and a pen. He put a book on Celes magic back, then pulled out another book.

"If you aren't too busy you might be able to help." Harry said, "Just look for anything in these books that mentions hypnosis."

Matsumoto whined as she was handed a very thick volume on 'Eastern Magics of Fiore,' but she began reading through it anyways.

Hitsugaya picked up a thick volume titled, 'The Lost Magics' and started scanning through it's pages.

"This is interesting." Matsumoto commented, "Magic that changes appearances…is that what you used, Harry-kun?"

"No." Harry shook his head, "I'm a practitioner of Celes rune magic and Celes sword magic. Runes, when used properly can create a sort of negative space around an object, like a pocket dimension. It's a bit like requip, in that sense. I have a friend who uses requip and she can change her clothes at will."

"Ooh." Matsumoto said, rather intrigued by the subject.

"Matsumoto, you're looking for magic on hypnosis, not...requip." Hitsugaya glared at her.

"Oh, alright." She huffed, returning to her reading.

The sun began to rise up in the sky, and Matsumoto left her book open on the desk, she was more than half-way through at this point,

"Taichou, I have a lieutenants meeting." She explained.

"Go." Hitsugaya said, "I need to leave as well."

Harry let his ruin magic surround him and change him back into his Shinigami outfit,

"You can go. I won't move from this spot."

"Very well." Hitsugaya said, "I'll see you later. This shouldn't take too long."

Harry nodded, then went back to his reading.

He managed to read through several chapters of the book, and several different magics, when finally, he decided to switch to a different book.

He started looking through the book Matsumoto had been reading, and found a couple of mentions of hypnosis, but not the type he was looking for.

It was still good information and he wrote what he found down in his notebook, including the page number and book as a reference.

He continued scrolling through it until he decided there was nothing else that might be of interest.

"Wait a minute." Harry said out loud.

He began pulling books out of his bag, looking through the titles until he found what he was looking for. He stuffed the other books back in and opened it up. 'Magics of Mind and Eye.'

He read through the first chapter and knew he had found what he was looking for right away. He started writing down notes quickly, all that he felt was necessary.

But how to counteract the effects of Aizen's Zanpakutou.

"Here it is." Harry breathed, control of the known senses…hmm…that gave him somewhere to start.

Harry started jotting down notes, determinedly, thinking of any sort of way he might be able to counteract this hypnotizing power Aizen possessed.

It was noon when Hitsugaya came into his office,

"They found Aizen's body."  
Harry looked up, shocked,

"What?" he wondered.

"It's a fake." Hitsugaya scowled, "But other than me, I think only Unohana-taichou noticed. I wouldn't have noticed unless I'd already been suspicious and had been looking for it. A small sliver, almost unnoticeable containing traces of a strange reiatsu." He crossed his arms, "I'm convinced. Now have you found anything?"

Harry thought about this,

"The corpse…would you say it's a part of Aizen's power?"

Hitsugaya quirked an eyebrow,

"Yes…"  
"I've found a section here, in a book on mind magics." Harry grimaced, "I think I have a few ideas on how to counter the effect of Aizen's Zanpakutou. If he left behind a fake body, then we can use it to see if we can get around his illusion."  
Hitsugaya's eyes widened,

"I think I can get access…So I'm going to be the one to test this out, I assume?"

"If you're willing." Harry nodded, "If you don't trust me, you can let me test it out on myself. I need to actually create a counter for the hypnosis first. That could take a while, and it's going to require a lot of failures, most likely."

"Just do it." Hitsugaya said, "I'll help in any way I can."

Harry smiled,

"Alright then. I guess I'll get started." Harry looked at the book, "You might be able to help me with this. Aizen's power, most likely has to do with the manipulation of the known senses. I have a couple ideas here…one of them is to simply find a way to…reject Aizen's ability. But I don't know if I'll be able to come up with something that will do that without knowing exactly how his reiatsu reacts when he releases his Zanpakutou." Harry admitted.

"Any other ideas?" Hitsugaya asked curiously.

"There are two other methods I've been pondering on. I've studied the mind magics to an extent, it's possible that simply creating a strong enough shield around the mind might be enough to regain control of the senses." Harry explained, "But, there's a catch to this. You might not be able to create your own barriers yourself. Magic and reiatsu can work in similar ways, but they're still different. I can cast a few kidou spells, for example, but none that bring anything solid into existence. Basically, I would have to come up with a ruin pattern and channel magic into your head, but that's way too dangerous. And I'm pretty sure you don't want anyone messing with your head."

"I don't." Hitsugaya agreed, "What's the other method?"

"We create another sense." Harry said, "It says that this sort of magic only works by manipulating the 'known senses.' So, if we were to create something else…"

"Can you do that though?" Hitsugaya asked curiously.

Harry nodded, then flipped through his book until he arrived at a very specific page. He pointed,

"Here. The eye of emerald. It's a lost technique, but it's basically the same thing I want to do. Create another sense that processes images. If someone's done it before, then it's possible for someone to do it again." Harry looked up at Hitsugaya, "Give me three days."

"You have two." Hitsugaya said, "I had to arrest someone close to me today…because they tried to attack Gin."

"I see." Harry said soberly, "Two days then, but you're going to have to test this stuff out." Harry pulled out another book from his bag,

"This is a book on script magic. Often times they use symbols and designs in order to bring out the desired result. It's not just art though, it's more of a science. If the design is off, then the spell could do something else entirely." Harry began reading through it, then wrote down something else in his notebook, "The eye of emerald was apart of scripture magic with a special runes design to boost and connect it to the body. At least, that's the rumor."

"So, you're going to recreate the eye of emerald then?" Hitsugaya summarized.

"Well, that's the plan. I don't know how good it will be though." Harry rubbed his temples, he ripped out a new page in his notebook and began writing.

"I'm alright when it comes to Fiore ruins and magic, but Celes magic is my specialty…Let's see." He began writing Fiore ruins in a circle, but immediately scrapped the idea once he hit a dead end. He started again, working from the top of the page and into a circle.

Hitsugaya watched in fascination as Harry glanced back over at his book, then tried writing the ruins in a different pattern.

The door to his office slid open and Matsumoto came inside,

"Hitsugaya-Taichou! What happened? I thought Aizen was…"  
"Close the door, Matsumoto." Hitsugaya ordered.

Calming slightly, she closed the door.

"I thought Aizen was the one behind all this but now he's dead…"

"He's not." Hitsugaya said calmly, "I looked at the body myself. It's a fake, but it wouldn't be noticed unless someone was looking for it. It's possible Unohana-taichou saw it as well…" he trailed off, "Anyways, now the real Aizen is moving around freely, but in the shadows."

"That's not good." Matsumoto said, jaw set in a firm line.

"No, it's not. But now we have our own advantage." He said, "We have a body, one that was created with Aizen's illusionary magic. Which means, we can now test out different ways of seeing past the illusion."

"I see." Matsumoto realized, "So he left behind something that we could use…Did you find anything on hypnosis magic, Harry-kun?"

"I did. I found what I was looking for." Harry nodded, looking over his design, then getting another paper from his notebook and writing down something else, glancing at the previous ruins design, "There is a method that was used long ago to counteract that magic. The eye of emerald. I'm going to see if I can recreate it. That's what I'm going to try first." He decided.

"Wow, you can do that?" she asked, looking wholly impressed.

"We'll have to see, won't we?"


	31. Chapter 31

**I left off at a pretty weird spot last time…**

**I don't own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail**

"We'll have to see, won't we?" Harry grimaced, "Ruins magic is something I've always excelled in…not to brag or anything." He chuckled.

"Looks complicated." She said looking over his shoulder.

"I should have my first prototype method done in a couple of hours." He said, "And hopefully one of you will be testing it while you go visit Aizen."

"I'll do it." Hitsugaya decided, "If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it before. I'll trust you…for now."

"Matsumoto-san, did you here that? I've just gained the great Hitsugaya-taichou's trust!"

Matsumoto laughed,

"Please, Harry-kun, call me Rangiku. Matsumoto sounds way too formal." She waved.

"Then just call me Harry." Harry insisted, "I'm not really used to formal stuff anyways."

"Harry then." Rangiku smiled happily.

"Good god, it's the alliance from hell." Harry swore that's what he heard Hitsugaya mutter…but it could have just been the wind.

Harry spent hours working on his schematic for his spell, then he began the actual magic part.

It was two o'clock and Hitsugaya and Matsumoto were working on paperwork by then. Well, Hitsugaya was working on paperwork. Matsumoto was lounging and drinking sake.

"I've got a prototype." Harry said.

"That just looks like rice paper with an eye on it." Matsumoto pointed out, "Are you sure it will work?"

"No idea." Harry admitted, "That's why we're going to test it."

He got up from the coffee table and handed the paper to Hitsugaya,

"Just go in and stick this to your forehead. Close your eyes and see if you can see past Aizen's illusion." Harry explained, "I tested it on myself, and it seems to allow me to see with my eyes closed, but the trick is getting pass the illusion."

"Alright." Hitsugaya said, "Here goes nothing. I'll be back to tell you if it worked. Matsumoto…do your paperwork."

"But taichou…" She whined, "Half my pile is already gone, see." She said proudly.

"That's because Harry did those yesterday!" he growled.

"Yes, but they're still gone." She countered.

"Do your work, Matsumoto. I'll be back shortly." He said, closing the door behind him.

Harry let out a sigh, then began working on the ruin schematic again. He ran a hand through his hair.

"Even if it does work, that paper's going to be flimsy in battle. I'll have to find something better to bind the magic and the senses." Harry frowned, then began writing again.

"Hm…you're really smart, aren't you?" Rangiku said, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

"I like to think so." Harry admitted, "I've been studying magic a long time, well, for me anyways. It's been…maybe seven years now, come to think of it."

"Seven years?" Rangiku asked curiously, "So, you started when you were eight or nine?"

"Eleven." Harry said, "When I was fifteen my time stopped. I won't age until I've done what I set out to do."

"Oh? And what's that?" Rangiku asked curiously.

"Hmm…" Harry hummed, "That's kind of a secret. Even I don't know entirely. But…I know I'm supposed to learn some sort of lesson."

Harry spent thirty minutes working on another way to bind his design to the senses another way. Hitsugaya came back in.

"Well?" Harry asked him.

"It sort of worked." He said, "For a moment, the body flickered out of existence. It won't be enough in battle." He said grimly.

"I didn't think it would be powerful enough." Harry admitted, "But the fact that it flickered out of existence, even a moment means that I'm on the right track. I think my problem is finding a way to apply the design and integrating it into the other senses while still keeping it separate." Harry ran a hand through his hair, then began writing something else down.

"Give me another hour or two and I think I'll have something else ready. I've got a good base, now I just need to better improve upon it."

"Alright." Hitsugaya said, then he froze, as did everyone in the room.

"What was that?" Harry wondered, "I mean, from the level of reiatsu…is that a captain?" Harry asked. He knew it was far away, but even from where he was he could sense it as plain as day. It was on a completely different level from that lieutenant Ichigo had fought the night before.

"Kenpachi Zaraki." Hitsugaya said, eyes narrowed, "He's fighting someone. I need to go. Keep working on your design. Matsumoto, if Harry finishes before I get back, will you test out his spell or whatever it is?"

"Of course." Rangiku said, "I think we can trust Harry."

"I'll tell you when I've got something." Harry waved, not taking his eyes off the paper.

He did hear Hitsugaya leave the room though. The crushing reiatsu would distract him every now and again, but Harry forced his mind back to the work at hand.

After another solid hour he finally had something in mind. It was another rice paper design as Harry hadn't quite gotten to the point where he could figure out any other way to link the spell and senses yet.

"Try this one." Harry said, "Another prototype. Come back here right away and tell me if it worked at all. Tell me everything you experience when using it."

"Alright." She said, "But I'll have to drop by to give something to a friend first."

"That's fine." Harry nodded, "I'll try reading up on better methods of infusing the magic. If I add any more power to the rice paper, it's going to end up burning apart."

"Is it safe?" Rangiku asked concerned.

"I've taken every precaution I can think of. If it doesn't work, it shouldn't hurt you or anything." Harry added.

"Alright. I'll see you soon." She said, the door closed behind her and Harry went back to work.

He knew he was nearly there, but he was going to need something more than just ink and rice paper for a spell so powerful.

How was the emerald eye created the first time? He knew it used a similar method, but still…Should he start over?

No, it was growing dark out already and Harry didn't think he'd have that sort of time. Especially not with the time limit. He let out a frustrated growl. How the hell was he going to do this? Normally it would take him a week to actually create a spell like this. Even with the book, which had given him a ton of hints in regards to the eye of emerald, would still take him that long. He let out a frustrated groan. He was going to be pulling another all-nighter.

The door to the captain's office was pushed open.

"You look frustrated." Rangiku said, "Anyways, your paper kind of worked. It was like…" she paused, "The body was flickering in and out of existence."

Harry hummed,

"Then that means I've got the right rune array." He said, "But I don't have the right bonding agent." He frowned, then began sifting through his bag until he pulled out a smaller brown book with a leather binding.

"What's that?" Rangiku asked curiously, "It looks different than the other books."

Harry looked down at the book with an intense gaze,

"It's a book on…the less savoury magics." He admitted.

He unclasped the leather binding and opened it up.

"What do you mean the 'less savoury magics?'" Rangiku asked curiously.

Harry sighed,

"There are some really scary magics out there. This stuff…it's not too bad, in comparison to things like death magic or magic that takes away free will or…" Harry scrunched his nose, "Magic designed to torture…But it still borders on that." He admitted, "Where I come from, there are three horrible spells that are forbidden to use no matter what the circumstance. The Avada Kadavra, the Cruatious curse, and the Imperius Curse. But there are curses that are far worse than those. I've encountered them before. The lullaby, a flute that causes any of it's victims to die if they hear it being played…These are all classified as dark or black magic."

"Magic…can really do all that?" Rangiku wondered.

Harry nodded,

"Yes, it can. This book, it doesn't have anything in it that involves killing a person…but things like blood magic, sacrificial magic…even the spell of four minutes…I attained it from a client as payment for a job a long time ago. But I remember reading in it something about bondings. I'm hoping that it will have something inside it that I haven't thought of yet."

"But the papers could work." Rangiku said.

"I'll make a few more up, but they won't last long. About…ten minutes." Harry said, "And I don't think that would be particularly convenient in a fight."

"No, it wouldn't." she admitted, "Not to mention, the paper's attach rather flimsily. It could just be blown off."

"Yeah." Harry agreed, "That's why it's so important to find a better bonding agent. I have a feeling I'll be looking at a more organic material for this particular spell."

"Organic?" Rangiku asked uneasily.

"Yup." Harry said sifting through the pages, "Plant matter, or animal organs, I don't know yet. I'm kind of hoping not to use anything from animals though, that…I mean, I'm not even sure where I'll find animals around here."

Rangiku looked sick,

"I'm not sure I want to know." She decided quickly.

Just then, reiatsu seemed to explode through the air.

"Uryu." Harry said.

"That's one of yours?" Rangiku said looking out the office window.

"Yeah, Uryu." Harry nodded, "But who's he going up against?"

"Mayuri Kurosuchi." Rangiku grimaced, "And it seems they're really going at it."

Harry looked back down at his work and started writing again. Suddenly, there was a huge burst of energy, Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't realized Uryu had become that powerful…

"That's your friend?" Rangiku asked wide eyed.

"I didn't know he was that strong either." Harry admitted, "Last time I saw him fight he wasn't nearly that strong…Guess I best keep going." He said, writing down some more runes on another piece of paper.

"I'm ready to test whatever you come up with." Rangiku said seriously.

"Alright." Harry said, jotting down a couple of ideas, "I have a few plant materials in my bag, herbs and stuff. I often need them for making potions and healing."

The office door slid open again and Hitsugaya came in, he had a pile of paperwork in his arms. He moved it to his desk and began writing.

"Are you close to figuring it out?" he asked Harry.

"Yeah, I'm progressing faster than I thought I would." Harry admitted, "I have the right rune design, but I need a different bonding agent. Rice paper isn't strong enough. Rangiku tested it out earlier and she reported that the image of Aizen's body double was flickering in and out of existence. I'm close. I just got to figure out which bonging agent to use. I have a few candidates here." Harry said, taking out some vials of plants he'd collected.

He took out a knife and a vial of liquid.

"Now comes the fun part." Harry said, taking one of the plants out of the vial and looking through his leather book.

"Medusa Leaves...Lets see if this works." He crushed up the leaves, it took at least twenty minutes to get all the juice out, and Rangiku had fallen asleep.

Harry ran a hand through his hair when he realized the potion wasn't right at all.

"This isn't going to work." He vanished the liquid, then looked through the book again.

He tried a few of the more ordinary plants, then tested then out through small drops of sensory potion. None of them turned the right color or texture that Harry was hoping for.

It was close to midnight when Rangiku woke up, startled.

"So you're finally awake." Hitsugaya said.

Rangiku looked over at him owlishly,

"Taichou I…What are you doing here in my room?"

Harry smiled, Rangiku sure was funny.

"Better take another look, Matsumoto. We're in my office, not your room. Since you're awake, you can take over." He said stacking up the papers in his hands neatly, "I'm completely exhausted."

"Maybe if you hadn't done all the paperwork for squad five's takeover yourself, you wouldn't be so exhausted." Rangiku said getting up and walking over to his desk.

"Be quiet, and just finish it off, will you?" he handed the papers over.

Rangiku looked the over,

"It seems that you left out a few things." She noted, "What about all the details of…"

"Didn't I tell you to keep quiet?" Hitsugaya sighed, then took a sip of his tea.

"I, uh…" Rangiku began, "I've been asleep a long time, haven't I?"

"Don't worry about it." He said looking away.

Harry was a bit lost, but it wasn't really something he ought to worry about. It seemed like a private conversation somehow.

"You have a classmate who's fighting with your kohai. That can't be easy for you." Hitsugaya said, but he wouldn't make eye contact with her.

"Excuse me sir." A voice said from behind the door, "I am Kichikiro Takezoe, tenth division seventh seat. I'm looking for Hitsugaya-taichou and Lieutenant Matsumoto. May I come in?"

Harry cast a quick disillusionment charm on the potions and books. Hitsugaya gave him a quick nod,

"Yes, what do you want?"

"Sir!" The door slid open to reveal a kneeling Shinigami, "I beg your pardon, but this is an urgent matter. There's been an incident at the prison that requires your immediate attention. Sir, Lieutenant Abarai, Lieutenant Hinamori and Lieutenant Kira, sir, have all vanished from their cells."

Harry was surprised at this. Lieutenant Abarai, as Rangiku had informed him earlier was that red headed Shinigami who had fought Ichigo. Harry had a feeling he had vanished to seek the orange haired hot-tempered substitute out, though he couldn't quite explain his reasoning on that. Just a hunch.

Lieutenant Hinamori was close to Hitsugaya, though Harry didn't know the extent of their relationship, and he hadn't pondered on it long.

"Show us." Hitsugaya said, "Li, stay here and finish your assignment. That's an order." He told Harry.

"Yes, sir." Harry saluted, he'd told Hitsugaya his fake name already, and though it was originally Chinese, Hitsugaya agreed that it would better help him blend in.

Rangiku and Hitsugaya ran out of the room, the seventh seat escorting them along the way. The door was closed behind them and Harry went back to work, all his equipment reappearing.

It wasn't long before Rangiku came back.

"What happened?" Harry asked, mixing two vials together, and frowned when he still wasn't getting the desired effect.

"Lieutenant Hinamori…Momo escaped." She confessed, "None of us…none of us thought she would take things so far."

Harry frowned,

"That sounds like…"

"You know something?" Rangiku asked Harry curiously.

"It's a theory." Harry admitted, "But…her behaviour isn't normal. It's almost like she's been brainwashed."  
"Brainwashed?" Rangiku repeated alertly.

Harry frowned,

"It's a tactic that's often employed by manipulative old men." He said with annoyance, "I was a victim of such brain washing once. Trust no one else but _that_ person. If that person tells you your best friend is your enemy, they're your enemy. If they tell you to sacrifice yourself, that's what you…" Harry's eyes widened, "Damnit!" Harry slammed his fists down on the table, then got up, "This is a trap!"  
"A trap?" Rangiku said alertly.

"Momo's escape, Hitsugaya's going after her. Don't you see?" Harry said, and it was quite obvious to him.

Rangiku's eyes widened with realization,

"You aren't saying…Aizen set them up to fight?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying." Harry grinded his teeth, "He's playing them like a fiddle. Rangiku, we're going." Harry told her.

"But what about…"

Harry took a look at his work, then quickly packed his things into bags, stuffing them away hastily, then putting his bag on. He wasn't about to leave his things. Not where they could be easily stolen.

"If I get caught, I'll just do my work elsewhere. I won't let Hitsugaya-taichou take the fall for this. I swear. If you need me to make an unbreakable vow, I will." Harry told her seriously.

"An unbreakable vow?" she repeated.  
"A vow that kills you if it's broken. Come on." Harry urged.

Rangiku nodded, it was incredible how she could change from aloof to dead serious within milliseconds.

They both Shunpoed away, through the streets and up on the roof tops. They were in time to see Momo standing outside of the squad three barracks. She held a sword up to Hitsugaya's throat, while the white haired captain stared at in confused, shocked and sad…sad that she would do this.

"Hitsugaya-Taichou!" Harry shouted.

"Li! Matsumoto, stay back!" Hitsugaya ordered just as Momo lifted her sword and plunged it downwards, obviously hoping to kill her childhood friend, but Hitsugaya got out of the way effortlessly.

"Don't be a fool!" Hitsugaya tried to reason, "Think about what you're saying! If he dies he wants you to risk your life as well? Do you honestly believe Aizen-taichou would say that?"

Harry let out a small breath through his nose. Good, even in the midst of the obvious emotional turmoil he was in, Hitsugaya had managed to hide the fact that he knew of Aizen's treachery.

"The Aizen-taichou I knew would not be stupid to face unbeatable odds alone. And if he did, he certainly wasn't a coward who would let his subordinates bail him out because he couldn't get the job done!"

"I know!" Momo shook her head, tears streaming down her face, "But Taichou wrote it all in his letter, he did! And I know it was his handwriting. I recognised it! I didn't want to believe it either, but it's true!"

"Oh, Momo." Rangiku said sadly.

"He's not going to be able to reason with her." Harry said grimly, he held out his finger in a familiar fashion, "Bakudou no ichi. Sai!"

The spell shot out and restrained her, she tried to break free, struggling around on the ground.

"Momo…" Hitsugaya said, obvious hurt in his voice.

"Forgive me, Hitsugaya-taichou." Harry said, bowing as he'd seen his subordinates do, "Lieutenant Hinamori is not in the right state of mind right now. I believe we won't be able to reason with her at this time."

Hitsugaya's face returned to it's serious and cold expression,

"You are forgiven. Matsumoto, call for the fourth squad immediately, and the second squad. Lieutenant Kira escaped his cell."

"Sir!" Rangiku said, summoning a hell butterfly.

"Li, I believe you were working on something important and I ordered you not to leave. Return to my office immediately and wait for me there. You will be reprimanded later."

"Sir." Harry said, playing along.

Once he and Rangiku were a fair distance away, she smiled slightly.

"You are quite the little actor."

Harry smirked,

"What can I say? It's a gift. Now, to get back to that project…"


	32. Chapter 32

**Going to post more than one chapter today. It's been a while since I've done this…I'm not very good at regular updates, but when I do update my stories, I'll probably be posting more than one chapter. When the authors I like only post one, It's never enough! I'm really impatient…**

**I'm thinking I might update Bonds of Fate tomorrow for those of you following some of my other stories.**

**Looking back on this one, it's pretty obvious I was intending to write a Manipulative!Dumbledore fic. I don't normally write those, don't know why. I have a bad habit of redeeming all my villains. I need to break out of that…**

**Anyways, I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail!**

Hitsugaya returned to his office looking exhausted only an hour later.

"How's Momo?" Rangiku asked worriedly.

"They've detained her." He admitted, though Harry could hear the hurt and sadness behind the ice in his voice, "She'll be fine."

She has to be, were the unspoken words.

Harry worked through the night, testing out various substances still when his latest experiment failed.

"Damnit!" He shouted, his book falling to the ground.

He let out a sigh. That was just perfect…he picked the book up and turned it over. His eyes widened at the new page the book had opened its self to.

"It can't be…but it's so simple."

Hitsugaya had fallen asleep at his desk, while Rangiku was sleeping on the couch across from him.

Harry bit his thumb nail.

"But if I did that…then what about? Oh…" he realized, "If I were to use the magic stamp properties…" he let out a laugh, then prepared a potion.

It bubbled until it was red. Then Harry bit his thumb, breaking the skin. He let his blood drip into the potion, it turned thick and black.

Harry grinned.

"I did it…I've got it!" He shouted causing Rangiku and Hitsugaya to wake up.

"You've done it?" Hitsugaya asked fiercely, yet still cold.

"I've got it. I found the bonding agent." Harry said proudly, "Blood magic, mixed with the skin installment potion used in guild stamps." Harry ran a hand through his hair, "It was so simple. I can't believe I didn't see it before." He shook his head, "I need one of you to test this one out. This test might be a little more dangerous so you'll have to wait five minutes before leaving this office so I know there aren't any dangerous effects."

He pulled out a calligraphy brush from his bag and dipped in in the ink.

"Who wants to test it?" He asked.

"I will." Hitsugaya said, getting up.

"Alright." Harry said, "Now, be warned, this isn't like the paper stuff I was using. I'm going to use this, and paint it onto your face. Like…face paint I guess. But more permanent. I can get rid of it, I've got the antidote here if need be." Harry assured, "And if you don't like the look of it, you can cover it up with invisibility potion, that's something people often use for blemishes and scars and stuff."

"Oh, can I have some of that?" Rangiku asked.

"Sure, I have two vials of it…er, but I'm afraid Hitsugaya-taichou has first dibs since he's the one acting as a guinea pig." He added thoughtfully.

Rangiku pouted but decided it wasn't worth arguing over.

"Alright, come sit on the couch right next to me." Harry said.

Hitsugaya made his way over to the couch and sat down while Harry drew an eye of an almost Egyptian style design on his forehead. Around it, he drew a series of runes that began vanishing into his skin. Rangiku watched on in intrigue.

After he was done, only the eye remained.

"Does it hurt anywhere?" Harry asked Hitsugaya.

"No." he shook his head, "I feel the same. Although…I seem to be seeing much more than I should…and from several different angles."

"Close your eyes." Harry said.

"I can still see." Hitsugaya said, "It's like those papers, only more powerful."

"Alright, just stay here a while longer." Harry said, "I don't want to take any chances. This is some experimental magic we're doing here and there's no way I'm taking the chance that this goes wrong. Five minutes' max for us to see ill effects."

He nodded, though it was clear he was itching to test the whole thing out. After more than five minutes had passed, Harry painted an invisibility potion over top of the mark, then let Hitsugaya go.

"You think you've got it this time?" Rangiku asked.

"I think I do." Harry said, "I found the right bonding agent. I'm confident this time."  
Rangiku looked at him out of the corner of her eye,  
"It wasn't frog intestines, was it?"

Harry chuckled,

"No. I used blood. My blood to be exact. I realized that the spell would have to be integrated into the nervous system, so I'd need a bonding agent that would do just this. I mixed a potion with my own blood in it. Because not only is my blood capable with Shinigami, due to Shinigami having human souls, though you often seem to forget this. My blood has magic in it too. Normal blood might not have worked, but a wizard's blood…" Harry's face took on a look of determination, "I know it will work."

Rangiku smiled at him,

"You must be tired."

"A little." Harry yawned, "I mean…I haven't slept in two days. I've been running on pepper up potion. Which isn't exactly good for anyone to be doing."

"Just go to sleep, I'll wake you up if anything happens."

"Alright." Harry said, laying down on the couch and closing his eyes.

He heard Hitsugaya enter the office only a few moments later.

"Harry, it works! When I close my eyes, I can see through the illusion, and even with my eyes open I can still tell that there's an illusion there."  
Harry opened his eyes tiredly,

"I did it then…" his world went black…he'd gone to sleep mid-sentence.

He was aware though before he passed out that both Rangiku and Hitsugaya were smiling.

"Harry…Harry, wake up."

Harry's eyes flickered open to see Rangiku standing over him, shaking him awake. Harry let out a moan.

"Harry…they changed the time."

"What?" Harry frowned.

"Rukia's execution date. It's at noon…tomorrow."

Harry jerked up quickly,

"What time is it now?" he asked.

"About twelve o'clock. We have twenty-four hours before Rukia is executed." Rangiku said, "Which means we're going to try to get our work done so as not to arouse suspicion…then we're going to Central forty-six."

Harry sat up,

"Before we do, we should use the spell I created…come to think of it, I should probably think up a name for that…"

"Ooh, how about the eye of ruby?" Rangiku suggested, "Cause, you used your blood and rubies are red. Plus, you based the idea off of the eye of emerald, right?"

Harry slapped his hand with his fist,

"That's brilliant!"

"Is it really?" Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched.

"Think about it, Taichou, how often do you get to name a real magic spell?" Rangiku said.

"Well, I think we should draw the design on you, Rangiku. I don't want you to be taken in by Aizen's illusions, even if I doubt you'll fight him head-on." Harry said, "And could you draw the ruins on my forehead as well? All you need to do is use a normal brush. My blood should do the rest." Harry said.

"I'll do it." Rangiku nodded, then kept her face still as Harry dipped his brush into the potion and began applying the ruins to her face.

Once again, she was left with an eye in the center of her forehead. Harry brushed some invisibility potion over the markings, as he doubted she would enjoy the design either way.

Rangiku added the design to his face soon after. The whole thing took less than five minutes. Harry could immediately feel the spell get to work.

"Wow, this is so cool!" Rangiku said, "It's like I can see everything even clearer than before, and all at once too…"

Harry smiled slightly,

"Why thank you. And I don't just mean for the compliment. You both helped me more than you know in the development of this spell." He looked thoughtful, "I'm going to go off now. I'll see you later though at Rukia-san's execution."

Hitsugaya nodded,

"I'd prefer you stayed…but I have a feeling you have something to do…and you won't see me." He said grimly, "I think I know where Aizen is hiding. I'm going to try and buy you some time to get Kuchiki-san out of there. Use it well."

Harry nodded, seeing the determination on his face,

"I'll see you two around. Don't go dying on me, I worked way too hard to help you for that to happen yet."

Toshiro nodded, then he and his lieutenant were off.

Harry put his bag on and transformed into his battle outfit, the scarf wrapping around his head, disguising his identity.

Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out his compact mirror.

"Black Cat." He said.

The glass simply reflected himself a moment, then it showed Yoruichi's face.

"Yo, Harry. Where have you been? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"Yeah, I managed to infiltrate the tenth division with the captain's help. Seems he had already suspected something was off with Rukia-san's execution. We're friends now, by the way."

Yoruichi blinked,

"Really? What did you do? Did you do some information gathering?"

"I already know who's behind all this. The fifth division Taichou. Sosuke Aizen. I also know about his compete hypnosis. The tenth division Lieutenant and Captain have helped me developed a way of countering the effects."

"You can counter it!?" She exclaimed loudly.

"Yes." Harry confirmed, "As soon as we found out about his Zanpakutou from Urahara-san, I began looking through my books at similar mind magics that dealt in hypnosis. I found something similar, but I had to create the spell and that took a lot of testing. Luckily, Hitsugaya-taichou and Rangiku volunteered as test subjects. They had to test several of my prototypes, but I finally did it."

"So then," Yoruichi said slowly, "We have Hitsugaya-taichou on our side…Do you think you could use this spell of yours on me or other Shinigami?"

"Of course, I can. I already said I tested it out on Hitsugaya-taichou. He's immune to the effect now…or at least he should be. We tested it out on the fake corpse Aizen left behind. Anyways, I was hoping you could tell me a bit about what happened to Orihime, Uryu and Chad. I'm guessing Ichigo is training now, otherwise he would be in a fight by now…you know, he's not very subtle." Harry pointed out.

Yoruichi smirked,

"But you've far than made up for that with your own subtlety. How long did it take to invent that spell of yours?"

Harry groaned,

"One day and one night. Normally stuff like that takes a week, at least…Hitsugaya-taichou said I had two days…I don't think he realizes just how difficult that stuff really is."

Laughter filtered through the mirror,

"Kid, you are a force to be reckoned with. So, why are you calling me up again? Oh right, the others…I believe they're in prison. My sources say that Zaraki plans on breaking them out though."

"You mean Kenpachi Zaraki? The eleventh division taichou?" Harry asked skeptically, "How the hell did Ichigo make friends with him?"

Yoruichi shrugged,

"Zaraki respects Ichigo. Ichigo beat him in battle so I guess…"  
Harry just shook his head,

"Alright, I guess that makes sense. Where are you? I was hoping to get a bit of training done before tomorrow."

"A secret underground training grounds." Yoruichi said, "Head South of the tower and you should begin to feel Ichigo's reiatsu."

"Alright." Harry said, "I'll see you soon, Kick-ass-sensei."

"See you soon, Harry." She smiled, then the glass went black a moment and returned to reflecting all around it. Harry closed the compact and put it in his pocket.

He shunpoed away, out of Hitsugaya's office.

At first Harry didn't even see it. It was a small, trap door hidden between two rocks. Anyone would have missed it, really. He knew that Ichigo's reiatsu was coming from around that point, but it seemed to be emitting from somewhere underground.

He opened the trap door and jumped down, letting the trap door slam behind him.

"There you are." Yoruichi said, "So…this spell…"

"I'll tell you all about it." Harry promised, "Although, there's something I'm rather hoping you'll teach me in exchange."

"Oh?" Yoruichi asked with intrigue.

"Your cat transformation." Harry said seriously, "Where I'm from Wizards can change into animals. Those that can are called Animagi. I know what form I'll take." Harry admitted, "But I can't change. I've noticed that your energy, and the way you change is a lot like an animagus transformation."

Yoruichi looked surprised,

"I suppose I can…Well, who am I to say no? Especially after you figured out a way to get passed the hypnosis."

Harry nodded,

"I can cast the spell on you now if you'd like. It will leave a sort of tattoo or mark on your face, but it can be covered up."

"That's fine." She said.

"Then let's do it now." Harry decided.

The two of them sat down while Harry took out the potion and a brush for drawing the ruins. Yoruichi sat still, as Harry applied the potion like a face paint over her forehead. The ruins he drew disappeared, leaving only the eye tattoo.

"Wow, that's rather impressive." Yoruichi said.

"It's a side effect." Harry admitted, "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. There weren't any negative effects that I've observed from the potion so far though." He added.

"That's fine. Actually, that's great. This could come in handy in more ways than one." She said, and Harry could tell that she was thinking of what she might be able to do with her new 'sight.'

"So then…transformation training…First you start with circulating your reiatsu through your body, though it seems you've already go that down…"

[0000000000000000000000]

...

Harry watched Ichigo train on his own every now and then while he played flash tag with Yoruichi. They'd pause in between their game of tag to do animagus training. It was clear that Harry wasn't going to get his form by the next day. But it was still a start.

"You've gotten faster." Yoruichi commented.

"I've been using Shunpo at every opportunity." Harry admitted, "I want to get faster."

Yoruichi nodded approvingly. Harry's style had drifted closer to something stealthier. Though often times that clashed with his more dazzling spells.

That night, Harry fell asleep, exhausted. He rather hoped Hitsugaya and Rangiku would be alright…

The next day, Harry woke up and packed up his bag, making sure he had everything he needed.

"Where are you going?" Yoruichi asked him.

"I'm going to Sokyoku hill." Harry admitted, "That's where Rukia's execution is going to be held. If Ichigo ends up being late, I can at least stall a while."

Yoruichi nodded,

"Good luck…and be careful."  
"I will." Harry said, then disappeared in a shunpo.

It was eleven-thirty when he left, and he had seen Ichigo getting ready. At Ichigo's speed though, Harry was worried he wouldn't make it.

Harry was still faster, far faster. He shunpoed close to the hill, then cast a disillusionment charm on himself.

When he reached the hill, still hiding his presence, he found himself unnoticed. He had been a bit worried that he would have been sensed, but as long as he hid his magic, and his emotions, he was invisible.

Rukia stood under the giant wooden rectangle while a small group of captains and lieutenants surrounded her.

An old man with a hiyori that said number one in kanji approached her. He was obviously the sou-taichou. He had a long beard, a lot like Dumbledore. But unlike Dumbledore, Harry could vaguely see the outline of muscles beneath his robes. His beard was tied with a purple ribbon that went all the way down to the very tip. His head was completely bald and his hands rested on top of a wooden cane that emitted the same energy a Zanpakutou did.

Harry could tell that he was the strongest out of all of them.

"Now the time has arrived…let us begin the execution." He spoke in a warn voice, but there was still power behind it.

"It seems odd that so few people showed up." A young-looking woman in a white hiyori said, there was a number two written in kanji on her back, "The captains and lieutenants from squad one and squad two are here. And Kyoraku's squad eight. It's no surprise that squads five, eleven and twelve are missing, given their casualties, and I think Zaraki's lost it." She said the last bit with a tone that said, 'well we all saw that one coming.'

"But what about all the rest of the officers?" she wondered with a frown on her face, looking over her shoulder, "I thought that at least Unohana would have wanted to be here…"

Unohana…Harry thought, she seemed interesting. He hadn't actually met the woman or anything like that, but that's part of what intrigued him. Hitsugaya had hinted that she knew about Aizen's deception and now the fact that she was missing ignited Harry's curiosity once again.

And then she let out a gasp as a very elegant looking man (Harry was hesitant not to call him 'pretty') came walking over to the execution grounds gracefully. He wore a captains hiyori, though Harry couldn't see the number from the angle he was at, he could guess the number. He'd seen the man's back before when he'd gone to pick up Rukia from the world of the living. Number six. And Harry wouldn't forget that.

Rukia's eyes went wide,

"Nii-san…"

He was her brother…Harry thought, that…explained a lot somehow…Had someone told him that before?

"Rukia Kuchiki." The old man said again, "It is time for your execution. Any last words?"

Rukia looked upwards, then said in a soft, yet resolved tone,

"Yes…only one." She said, then her gaze settled on the head captain, "Please, allow the Ryoka to return home. They only came here for me. I…can't bare the thought of them dying for me either."

The old man gave a small head dip,

"Agreed, after this is all over, I shall allow the Ryoka to return to the world of the living, unharmed."

"Thank you so much, Sou-taichou." Rukia said, eyes watering with tears from relief.

A rather tall woman with silver hair looked away,

"How cruel." Harry heard her say, "Even though he has no intention of sparing them…"  
"It's actually not cruelty." A woman said, she had black hair braided down her front.

When had she gotten there? Harry wondered, then he realized, this was Unohana, the mysterious captain who seemed to know what was really going on.

"It's kindness." She said.

"What do you mean?" said the silver-haired girl, who Harry assumed now was her Lieutenant.

"Her fate is unavoidable, but now with the sou-taicho's promise, she won't have to worry about her friends. So…she will at least die with some peace of mind."  
A bunch of men in green masks, dressed in identical, ceremonial looking robes marched up to the giant spear that stood directly behind the wooden rectangle. They began performing hand gestures, which seemed to help in channeling their reiatsu. That was interesting…Harry vaguely wondered if that could be used to channel magic as well, but the thought quickly left his mind in favour of the danger of the situation Rukia was in at the moment.

Blue flames surrounded the spear, then the old man cried out in a demanding voice,

"Release the Sokyoku's seal!"  
A jet of blue light shot up into the sky. The robes, holding the spear up were burned until they broke, then the robes began to swirl around and around, climbing higher and higher. Until it had unraveled completely.

The ropes seemed to become sharp spears as they were thrust far away, leaving the spear bare.

"Thank you…brother." Rukia said sadly, "Thank you."

Three blocks seemed to float out of the floor beneath her feet. The ropes that bound Rukia's wrists were released, then her arms shot out, somehow being held by the energy of two of the cubes, while one remained at her feet.

She started floating up. Up the shaft of the wooden rectangle. And then she reached the top and stayed there. Her face wasn't of fear. That scared Harry a little bit. She was accepting.

"Come on Nanao." The captain who's hiyori was only vaguely visible beneath a pink flower-patterned robe over top. He spoke to a strict looking woman with oval-shaped glasses, hair pinned back tightly.

"Don't you go getting all emotional on me now." He said looking her right in the eyes.

Was he planning something? Harry wondered curiously.

"Or else you know I'm likely to come apart too." He grabbed the brim of his straw hat, and Harry figured that it must be a habit.

Nanao looked down in resignation,

"Yes sir." She said quietly, "But you needn't worry, it's not sadness I'm feeling."  
Then the spear began to glow, it burst into flames, which swirled around it. Encompassing it into a fiery vortex of light.

The spear floated upwards, then began to curve and change shape. It was a bird now, a great bird of fire that spread its wings, prepared to carry out righteous judgment.

"Be calm!" the sou-taichou demanded, "The Sokyoku has taken on its true form, in order to render the ultimate punishment! When the prisoner's body has been pierced, the sentence will have been carried out!"

Come on, Ichigo, Harry thought to himself, muscles tensing. If that idiot didn't show up soon, then he'd have to start playing hero again.

"Farewell." Rukia said, but Harry picked it up, despite how soft her voice might have been.

Harry smiled, right on time, he thought. Ichigo flew in front of the bird and intersected it. He was wearing a brown sort of cape that blew around him, tied with a thick rope. His sword was at his back as he faced Rukia and blocked the firebird effortlessly.

"Hey." He greeted.

Harry almost deadpanned.

"Ichigo…" Rukia murmured, her face took on an array of expressions, when she finally settled on what she wanted to say, "Idiot! I said, don't come back!"  
"Wha-I-eh…" Ichigo stuttered out.

Harry wanted to laugh at this point, but had to force himself not to.

"What's if going to take for you to finally realize!? You can't defeat my Nii-san! He'll kill you, for sure this time…" Her eyes were filling with tears, "I'm not asking you or anyone to rescue me! I'm resigned to my fate, go away!"

The firebird let out a cry and backed away, then it lunged again. Ichigo stumbled momentarily, but turned around and raised his blade.

"I guess it figures that in the end it was the Ryoka who saved the day…" Harry heard the man in the pink hiyori say.

Harry smiled, he had a feeling that there were more people on their side than he'd originally believed.

"Backing up for a second attack, huh? Bring it on." Ichigo challenged.

"You'll never be able to stop it a second time!" Rukia shouted, "Enough already, Ichigo. You have to quit! Ichigo…please! You'll be torn to pieces!"  
The firebird got ready, Ichigo got ready. They flew at each other.

"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted.

But they didn't collide. A rope was thrown into the air and tied its self around the bird's neck. Harry smirked, in the end, he supposed he should have been expecting this.

A captain with white hair appeared holding a red shield.

"Captain Ukitake?" the squad two captain asked in disbelief.

The white-haired man had two subordinates behind him, all looking very determined. A weight seemed to drop on the ground from the rope that had its self looped around the bird's neck.

Kyoraku, the eighth division captain in the pink hiyori jumped over to the weight and put his hand on it, as though holding it down.

"Hey there, Mister Handsome." Kyoraku grinned, Nanao leaped to his side, "I was starting to wonder when you'd show up." He tilted his hat upwards.

The sou-taichou turned around,

"Hm?" he looked at the two of them expressionlessly.

"It took a while to break the seal." The white-haired captain explained, "But…" he thrust the red shield forwards, then implanted it into the ground, "This ought to do it!"

"Stop them!" The second squad captain said to her Lieutenant who was a rather large man.

"Who? Me?"

"They'll destroy the sokyoku!" she hissed.

"What can I do?" her lieutenant asked panicking. And really, he probably couldn't do much if anything.

Both captains unsheathed their swords, then plunged it into the shield, the ropes surrounding the bird began to glow, it traveled all the way up to the creature. Then the great bird of fire burst apart in an array of flames that fell to the earth.

"I'm not sure what's going on, but I can use the diversion." Ichigo said, then backflipped up onto the top of the wooden rectangle.

His eyes glowed blue.

"Ichigo, what are you doing!?" Rukia cried with horror.

Ichigo raised his blade up high.

"Isn't it obvious?" His hand slid down to the wrappings around his Zanpakutou's handle, then began to spin it around fast, "This stand…is about to tumble down."

"That's crazy!" Rukia gasped out, "Ichigo, you can't! You'll only end up killing us both! The sokyoku is too strong!"

"Don't worry about it." Ichigo brushed aside her concerns, then poised his Zanpakutou's tip directly over the wooden beam, "Just shut up and watch."

"Ichigo…" Rukia murmured.

Then he plunged the blade straight into the wood with a grunt. The whole structure began to glow a bright blue light.

"Boom!" Dust and debris flew everywhere, and Harry actually had to shield his eyes for a moment.

"I don't want you to rescue me, you said." Ichigo's voice broke through his clouded vision, "Just go home, you said. You know, sometimes you talk too much, Rukia. Good thing I don't listen to you. Now, this is the second time I've had to tell you this…" Harry looked up to see that Ichigo was carrying Rukia like a football, tucked under his arm, "I've come here to rescue you. Got it?"

Tears began to fall down Rukia's face and dripping down her chin,

"What a fool, I'm not going to…say 'thank you'…I won't!" she sobbed.

The center of the wood at the top of the structure was completely destroyed, they were standing on the side away from the dangerous edge.

"I didn't expect you to." He said.

All the captains and lieutenants were staring up at the two in awe.

"Um…Ichigo?" Rukia asked, "How are you planning to get away?"

"We'll make a run for it." He decided and Harry nearly facepalmed, he had the sense that he hadn't exactly thought this plan through.

"How stupid, those are captains! They'll catch up to us." Rukia glared.

"Yeah? Then we'll just kick their asses first." He decided.

Despite the rather shaky plan, Rukia smiled up at him.

"We're not alone you know." Ichigo said, "Uryu and Chad, Orihime…oh, and Harry, you know he turned out to be that masked guy?"

"What!?" Rukia shrieked, "All this time?"

"Masked guy? Who's that?" the girl with silver hair wondered.

Harry turned around at the sound of fighting…oh, it was that red-haired guy…what was he called again…Red…Abe? That didn't sound very Japanese…

He'd taken out the guys that had lifted the seal on the sokyoku in the first place.

"It's about time, Renji!" Ichigo shouted down at him.

The red-haired man was wounded greatly; he was using his sword as a crutch now.

"Renji!" Rukia cried with relief.

"Rukia!" Renji called back up to her.

"Oh Renji, it's you, I'm so glad you're still alive!" Rukia said quickly.

"I figured you'd show up." Ichigo said, the two seemed to share a look, before it quickly passed.

"What choice did I have?" he smirked, "I couldn't just rely on you to save Rukia, could I?"

Ichigo grinned, then lifted Rukia up over his head,

"Alright, here you go." He said.

Wait…he wasn't going to…

"Ready?" Ichigo asked, looking like he was about to throw the winning pass in a game.

"Wait, Ichigo!" Rukia said panicking.

"Look out below!" he shouted, then through her.

Rukia screamed as she was tossed down, flying through the air.

"Gya! You're insane!" Renji shouted, then he was hit by the flying Rukia and they both tumbled backward, skidding across the earth in a flail of limbs.

"Go!" Ichigo ordered Renji, "Get her away from here."  
The redhead just looked up at Ichigo dumbly.

"Protect her with your life. That's your duty." Ichigo said, and they exchanged another secret look.

Without saying anything more, Renji took Rukia in his arms then took off running.

"Don't just stand there watching, you fools!" The second division captain shouted, "Go! All lieutenants after them!"

They all made their way to run after Renji. Sucks for them that Harry decided to lower his disillusionment charm. In a blur of speed, he knocked them all out using nothing but his hands and feet, kicking and punching them each only once.

"Oh, Harry." Ichigo called down, "When did you get here? I haven't seen you in a while."  
Harry looked up at him,

"I've been here this whole time. I thought I'd watch you get the chance to be all cool and stuff."

"You know…" Ichigo's eye twitched, "Sometimes you really piss me off."

"Then my life's purpose has been fulfilled." Harry rolled his eyes.

Ichigo shunpoed down to stand next to him, then blocked an attack that came from none other than Byakuya Kuchiki.

"You can handle things here, right?" Harry asked Ichigo.

"This one's mine." Ichigo said firmly.

"Then I'm going after Renji. I need to make sure he and Rukia are okay."

"Go." Ichigo told him, and Harry shunpoed away off to find Renji.


	33. Chapter 33

**Yay! More chapters!**

**I was reading through some of the comments and it looks like there's a couple of people who have commented on the pairing. Some interesting thought there. I promise I'll take your comments into consideration. Thank you for the support as well!**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Bleach or Fairy Tail.**

As Harry sped away he had to force himself to remain focus when he felt a massive surge of reiatsu from where he'd left Ichigo and Byakuya. Harry couldn't help but smirk, he didn't need to be worried it seemed. Yoruichi's training had done the trick.

He could see Renji again, still carrying Rukia, and even hear them talking.

"Renji, stop! Put me down! I have to go help Ichigo!" Ruikia protested.

"What part about running for our lives do you not understand!?" Renji shouted, "Just keep that big mouth of yours shut! We don't want anyone hearing our voices!"  
Harry rolled his eyes, it definitely wasn't Rukia's voice people were going to hear…

"Explain something to me…" Renji said in a quieter tone, "One time, Ichigo told me that he owed you a favour."

"He owes a favour…to me?" Rukia wondered, bewildered.

It was clear she didn't understand what Renji was saying.

"He said, that you saved his life once. And the life of his family, and because of you his fate was changed, and that the power he has, has helped him to protect others."

Rukia looked down sadly.

"Why are you blaming yourself for everything?" Renji asked quietly, and Harry was running right behind him now, but they hadn't noticed yet, it seemed.

"It's pointless, you've always been like that." Renji said, "No one else thinks this is all your fault, so why don't you quit being so hard on yourself. No one person could be strong enough to carry all that responsibility on their shoulders." They started descending the stairs that led up to the Sokyoku hill.

"Certainly not you, Rukia. Just share it." He said, "Share it with me, and with Ichigo. Let other people lighten the load until you're strong again. That's the whole reason we got stronger. Just have a little faith."  
She grabbed onto his robes then.

"I'm sorry…Renji." She buried her head into his chest.

"Don't be foolish. You don't have anything to apologize for." He denied.  
"Thank you." She said, voice muffled by the fabric of his robes.

"Silly girl." He said fondly, "There's no need to say thank you either."

They were half way down the hill when Harry felt an immense reiatsu emitting from quite some ways away.

"Wow, that must be the old man's reiatsu." Harry said, causing Renji to stumbled.

"What!? Wha…Who the hell are you!?" Renji shouted.

"I'm one of Ichigo's friends." Harry introduced, "And it's about time you noticed me. Nice speech by the way."

"You're…that masked guy!" Rukia realized, "Ichigo said you were actually Harry…"

"I am." Harry grinned, "Nice to see you again, Rukia."

"You know this guy?" Renji asked Rukia.

"Um, yeah. He's a friend." Rukia decided, "But how come we didn't sense you?"

"I didn't want to be sensed." Harry said.

There was a bang from up top and Harry could vaguely see dust and debris being thrown about. Harry let out a low whistle,

"They're really going at it, aren't they?"

Renji and Rukia were silent for a while.

"Your name's Harry, right?" Renji asked.

"Yes."

"Are you strong?" he said.

Harry smiled,

"I defeated the tenth division taichou in battle easily enough, though I realize he isn't the strongest of the taichous…Oh, by the way, Hitsugaya-taichou is working with us now. Thought you ought to know. I believe he's heading to Central forty-six now to make an appeal."

"Hitsugaya-taichou?" Rukia asked disbelievingly.

"How the hell did you get him on your side?" Renji's mouth fell open slightly, obviously unable to fathom the ice captain going against orders.

"We got talking and, well, he was already suspicious about a few things. We both suspected that this whole execution was some sort of plan devised by someone who did not have anyone's best interests at heart. I mean, for one thing, the crimes Rukia-san committed by no means permitted execution. Hitsugaya-taichou looked it up, the last person who shared their power with a human got five years' imprisonment, and that was only because that particular human went on a rampage and killed a bunch of people or something. All those before that got about a month, six tops in prison."

"What!?" Renji shouted.

"Hey, you don't need to be so loud." Harry said with annoyance lacing his tone, "So, can you guess who's really behind this? I bet you can't…it's one of the taichous." Harry said in a teasing sort of voice.

They reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Is it…I don't know! It's one of the taichous, right?" Renji said, scrunching his face up, trying to think of who it could be.

"Is it Gin Ichimaru?" Rukia asked shakily.

"Huh, no, but he is a part of it." Harry said, "It was Hitsugaya-taichou who figured that part out. Nope."

"Then…Ugh! Who could it be!?" Renji scowled.

"I'll give you a hint." Harry smiled, "Everyone thinks he's dead."

Renji's eyes widened in realization,

"No." he denied, "Not possible…Aizen-taichou?"

"Congratulations, you win a cookie." Harry clapped his hands, "Yup, the one and only. His Zanpakutou has the ability to induce a state of complete hypnosis. If you've seen it's released form once, then you're already prey to it's effects."

"Crap." Renji said wide-eyed.

"He gave a demonstration." Rukia said shakily, "We all…everyone's seen it."

"It seems Unohana-taichou figured it all out as well, but I don't think she's told anyone. I've a feeling she's reached the same conclusion as Hitsugaya-taichou and is about to head to Central forty-six. However, that could very well be difficult, seeing as she has no way of defending herself against the attack that's about to come."  
"What do you mean?" Renji demanded.

Harry looked grim,

"It's just a suspicion. Hitsugaya-taichou will try to buy us time, but it's unlikely he'll be able to defeat Aizen."

"He's stalling them?" Renji realized.

"Yup." Harry agreed, "Can you move a bit faster, Renji?"

"This is about as fast as I can go." Renji grunted.

Harry hummed, he noticed that the red-head was wounded. Should he stop to heal him? Would it take too much time?

They'd made it to the middle of the Seireitei, only to stop when a man with dark skin and a metal visor surrounding his eyes appeared in their path.

"Tousen-taichou." Renji said, then took a step back.

"Another taichou?" Harry wondered, then realized something, "Wait…he's blind?" his eyes widened, that meant that…

A ribbon of white was thrust out in front of them.

"Crap!" Harry cursed, then grabbed onto Renji and Ruikia, he whistled an intricate tune of notes, and letter magic surrounded them.

"What?" Tousen wondered.

They teleported out of the ribbon, which stopped moving.

"No you don't." Harry said, they'd appeared only a few feet away.

"What…was that?" Renji wondered.

"Renji, run." Harry said, "I'll take care of this."

Renji got up from his crouched position, still cradling Rukia,

"Right!" he took off running, leaving Harry and Tousen on their own.

"Oh?" Tousen said, "And who might you be. You're wearing a mask over your face."

"Well if you know I'm wearing a mask then why would you ask who I am?" Harry deadpanned, "I mean…does no one get the whole 'mask' thing?" he asked with frustration.

"You use humour to hide your fear." Tousen said drawing his Zanpakutou, "Now let me put you out of your misery!" he lunged forwards, but Harry parried the thrust, drawing out Reyearth.

"I think you've misread me." Harry said calmly, he shunpoed forwards, then slashed at Tousen, only just missing, though he managed to get a graze on his arm.

"It's not fear I conceal." He pressed his sword into the ground, then used it to flip himself upwards and bring down his leg, hard. He managed to kick him in the head, sending him back.

"I see…you're rather strong. And your style is quite similar to that of the stealth force." He paused, "I ask again, who are you?"

"I suppose…you could call me 'Raven.' If you need a name." He pressed two fingers to his blade, "Obey thy command! Petals of wind, come forth!" a tornado shot out from the blade.

Tousen tried to dodge, only for the twister to change direction and strike. He let out a cry, then,

"Nake, Suzumushi!" his Zanpakutou let out a horrible scream, and Harry immediately covered his ears. It reminded him vaguely of those Mandrakes he had to work on in herbology class back in his second year.

Harry cried out,

"Obey thy command! Gods of thunder, come forth!" lightning shot from the blade and hit Tousen dead on. The attack stopped and Harry let out a breath.

Okay, so…not letting him do that again. He shunpoed again and brought his blade down, hard. The ground around them exploded and Tousen was obviously struggling. He tried to shunpo away, but Harry was far faster. With several quick slices, Tousen was hit and bleeding.

"Hmm." Harry hummed, "You aren't as strong as Hitsugaya-Taichou, it seems…oh wait, I should have realized, you're injured."

"Nake…"

"Not gonna let you!" Harry kicked him, sending him flying into a nearby wall, "Obey thy command! Gods of fire, come forth!" His blade caught fire, then he shunpoed forwards and struck.

Tousen let out a scream as blood spurted out from the wounds.

"I don't have much time." Harry murmured, "Raimei no basha, itoguruma no kangeki, hikari mote kore o mutsu ni wakatsu. Bakudou no roku juu ichi, Rikujokoro!"

White-yellow light shot from Harry's fingers, then plunged themselves into Tousen's side in a circle. It wouldn't hurt unless he struggled, but it would keep him restrained for a time.

"I gotta go. See ya." Harry waved, then shunpoed away.

Now where in the hell was Renji? He could vaguely sense his reiatsu and it didn't seem too far. Harry shunpoed after the trail, when he finally felt the energy disappear…then reappear back on the sokyoku hill.

Harry cursed. The idiot had gotten himself caught. Harry shunpoed as fast as he could back towards the hill. He heard something in his head, it was that silver haired girl from earlier, the lieutenant of squad four.

So Hitsugaya had been defeated…Harry cursed, he'd lasted pretty long though if he'd only just been defeated now.

Harry appeared in a blur just in time to block a sword that had been aimed for Renji's heart.

"Harry!" Ruikia cried with relief.

"It's you…" Renji murmured, he was injured worse now than when Harry had last seen him.

"Oh." A man with dark curly brown hair and square glasses seemed co comment, and Harry smirked slightly when he noticed a nasty cut on his arm and a tear in his robes.

"Looks like I made it in time." Harry said.

"I don't remember seeing you…among the Ryoka."

"We all came together." Harry said, "But we split up…they never caught me…Renji…you look pretty warn, can you still run?" Harry asked him.

"Don't know." He admitted.

Not good, Harry thought. He could stall though. Stalling was always a good idea.

"I notice you've got quite a wound there." Harry said looking pointedly at his arm.

"A mere miscalculation." He said in a soft, almost hypnotizing voice.

Harry hummed softly,

"Is that so…and here I thought it was because of Hitsugaya-taichou." Harry smiled slightly, despite the fact that his expression didn't change, he could tell he'd struck a nerve.

"He was stronger than anticipated." He admitted, "But I was disappointed, he wasn't fighting to kill."  
"That's because he knew he wouldn't be able to kill you." Harry said bluntly.

Aizen frowned,

"And what could you possibly mean by that, I wonder."

"I thought being the oh so clever and powerful manipulator that you are, you would have figured it out by now." Harry said, feigning shock, "He was keeping you busy to buy time for Rukia to escape…Even though I took out that Tousen guy it seems Gin managed to kidnap them anyways."

Harry let out a sigh,

"Renji, you suck." He said, giving the red head a pointed look.

"Hey, I wasn't trying to get kidnapped!" he snapped.

"Forget it." Harry rolled his eyes, "Clearly, we could have made up a better plan. The fact of the matter is, a certain someone managed to see through your illusions. Didn't he?"

Aizen's face took on a less serene and a more serious look.

"Wait…" Renji said, "Hitsugaya-taichou found a way to see through Aizen's Zanpakutou ability?"

"And how do you know about my Zanpakutou, Abarai?" Aizen asked.

"I thought that was pretty clear." Harry said, but before he could say anything else, there was a loud cry of "Aizen!"  
A man with a fox head, and he really did look like a fox, swung his Zanpakutou down, only for it to be caught with Aizen's hand.

"Aizen…how dare you stand there and smile like that…Aizen!" he shouted.

Harry grabbed onto Renji and Rukia and whistled, words appeared around him and Aizen's eyes widened. But before he could do anything, they were on top of a building, further from the sokyoku hill.

"Renji, I'm gonna do some healing. It's gonna be quick." Harry said, "And I can't heal everything. Show me your major wounds." He demanded.

Renji didn't waste any time, he took off the top of his robes and Harry took out his wand.

"Vulnera Sanentur." Harry said, then healed up the gash, it took nearly thirty seconds, then he stopped, "There isn't time to heal that completely…can you move better now?"

"I can." Renji agreed, "That was impressive…sorry, I'm going!" he said when Harry shot him a look.

Harry teleported back up onto the hill, it seemed that the fox captain was down.

"Now that was an interesting trick." Aizen said a smile forming on his face.

Harry's heart was pounding hard in his chest. He just needed to buy some time…just a little bit of time…

"Harry!"

Harry turned slightly to see Ichigo and all the others running up to them.

"Get back!" Harry told them, "Get as far away as you can!"

"Oh no, no." Gin said, walking towards them, "You shouldn't be moving."

He released his reiatsu, and Orihime, Uryu, Chad and some other guy that Harry didn't know all fell to the ground. Ichigo was alright though. Maybe he could hold off Gin for a while…

Harry grinded his teeth, no…that wouldn't do any good. Ichigo's reiatsu was too depleted from his battle with Byakuya.

And then Aizen struck. Harry was barely able to parry with his sword in time and even then, he was pushed back, even stumbling a bit.

Aizen sliced again, causing Harry to retain two very painful wounds on his sides. He had no time to mess around. He'd have to go full out if he wanted even a chance of surviving this encounter.

"God's of lightning…"  
"Bankai…" Suddenly the world turned to black and Harry couldn't hear, nor see anything.

He panicked a moment, then remembered his 'other sense.' He closed his eyes, then saw him. It was Tousen, of that he was sure, and his blade was about to meet Harry's flesh.

Harry thrust out his sword quickly, managing to block the deadly blade.

"What?" Harry saw him mouth.

Then, ever so carefully, Harry pealed away his scarf, revealing the black ink eye tattoo on his forehead and letting him better utilize his sense now that the design was uncovered.

He ran forwards, then lunged at the man, who instantly put his sword up. Their blades clashed, then Harry lunged again. It wasn't as though Tousen's skill with a sword had improved much if at all since their last encounter minutes ago. Harry plunged the blade forwards, then the darkness disbanded. Tousen was cut up pretty bad, but still alive.

Aizen, however was standing over Rukia, Ichigo and Renji were on the ground, bleeding hard.

"How fascinating." Aizen said, holding a small gem in his hand, "I didn't expect it to be so small…the hogyoku."

Harry couldn't have been in that dark space or whatever it was for more than three minutes…but he had a feeling Aizen had already explained to everyone what it was. Still,

"Please say that's not another stone that grants immortality." He rolled his eyes.

"It's too bad." Aizen said, lifting Rukia up by the neck, "That I just don't have a use for you anymore."  
Harry shunpoed forwards and grabbed Rukia from his hands, holding her bridal style and putting her down next to Ichigo.

"You won't hurt her." Harry growled.

"Oh?" Aizen raised an amused eyebrow, "Gin, kill her."

"Oh well, if I must." The silver haired man came walking forwards, he pulled out his blade, "Ikorose, Shinsou."

The blade shot forwards like a dart, but before it could hit either of them, someone else had put himself between the blade and the two of them.

"Nii-sama!" Rukia shouted, then grabbed her brother's body, cradling it with tears in her eyes.

He was still alive though.

"Shit." Harry cursed, then took his bag off, throwing it to Rukia, "Open up the left side pouch. There should be a potion in there labelled blood-replenisher. Feed him six drops exactly and put pressure on the wound." He ordered.

"R-right!" Ruikia said opening up the pouch, eyes widening when the pouch seemed to expand and several potions seemed to appear.

"Oh?" Aizen wondered, "I didn't take you for a healer."

"I've had a bit of training." Harry admitted, holding up his sword, his heart was pounding again. Where the hell were the other captains?

As though on cue, Harry heard a familiar voice from above him.

"Sanzai suru, kemono no hone! Sentō, kōshō, kōtetsu no sharin. Ugokeba kaze, tomareba sora. Yariutsu neiro ga kōjō ni michiru! Hadou no roku juu san, Raikohou!" A blast of yellow light hit where Aizen had been standing, but the illusive man had jumped out of the way.

Jidambo was falling out of the sky! And on his back was Kukaku Shiba who had cast the spell. Before Aizen could make another move, Yoruichi and the captain of the second division had shunpoed up to Aizen. Yoruichi had grabbed Aizen's Zanpakutou, preventing him from taking it out of it's sheath, while the second division captain had her Zanpakutou up against his throat.

But Aizen was smiling,

"This isn't a face I haven't seen in quite some time."

"Don't do it." Yoruichi said, "If you even move so much as a muscle…"

"Then we're going to cut off your head." The second captain growled.

"Yes, I can see that." Aizen said patronizingly.

Jidambo took a step forwards, now having landed.

"Kukaku!" Yoruichi said, happy to see her it seemed.

"Hey, Yoruichi. I had a little free time on my hands." Kukaku said smugly, leaning up against Jidambo's head. So since I was out, I thought, what the hell, might as well make an appearance."

"Well…that sure was flashy." Gin said, still with that same grin on his face, "What should I do?"

He raised a hand, only for it to be caught by Rangiku who had come in from behind him. She had her sword pressed up against his throat.

"You shouldn't even move." She said, and Harry noticed an intensity there that he hadn't seen when the second captain had pressed her Zanpakutou against Aizen's neck.

They knew each other, Harry realized. That had to be hard…

"Sorry, Aizen-taichou…I got caught." Gin said the last part as though he wasn't really caught.

"Hm." Aizen said, taking a small glance at his partner in crime.

"It's over." Yoruichi said.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" Aizen asked, and Harry just knew he was planning something.

"Don't you understand?" she continued with an intense glare, "There is no place left for you."

Shadows moved across the ground, and suddenly all the captains, save for Hitsugaya had returned.

A man with a sixty-nine tattoo on his face now had his blade pressed up against Tousen's throat, that it was clear he didn't have much strength to move anyways. Harry had beaten him pretty good.

"It's over…Aizen." Yoruichi said again.

But the man smiled.

"And just what's so funny?" Yoruichi glared.

"I'm sorry to do this, but the time has come." He said, and Harry's eyes widened when he saw reiatsu moving around him strangely.

Yoruichi noticed it to and shouted,

"Soi Fon, get away from him!"

They leaped back just as light from the sky struck down and encompassed the smirking man.

"Damnit." Harry said, lowering his sword.

The sky ripped open, revealing a bunch of Menos Grande beyond the veil, roaring and whining.

"But that's…impossible." Harry heard someone say.

"No wait…it looks like there's something else in there!"

And it was true, there was something behind the hollows, something glowing and purple, but Harry couldn't make out what it was.

Two more lights shot down from the sky and encompassed Gin and Tousen. Rangiku and the guy with the sixty-nine face tattoo jumped out of the way just in time.

"Well that's a bit of a let down." Gin said, "I was enjoying that…I wouldn't have minded being your captive a little longer."

Pervert, Harry thought.

"So long Rangiku." The last part, when he said her name, it was soft and sad, but no one else seemed to notice.

They began rising into the air, and Aizen looked down at Harry, eyes lingering on him just long enough to make Harry want to shudder.

"It seems you have a face after all." He smirked.

"So that's it?" one of the lieutenants asked, "We're just gonna let them get away!?" he drew his Zanpakutou out only for the sou-taichou to yell,

"Stop!"

"Sir!" the Shinigami lieutenant said.

"That light is a weapon. It's a technique the Menos use when they are rescuing their fellow hollows." The head captain explained, "Once enveloped in that light, it is impossible from those within and those outside to interact. It is an isolated world. All those who have fought the Menos know it well. From the moment that light fell on Sosuke Aizen, it became completely impossible for us to reach him."

The fox captain seemed to get up, blood trickling from his cuts as he slammed his fist down on the ground,

"Kaname!" he shouted up at the man, "Come back, Kaname! Have you forgotten? You once told me why you became a Shinigami. Wasn't it for your friend who lost their life? Wasn't it to carry out your justice? Where is your sense of justice now, because I don't see it!"

"I thought I made it clear to you." Kaname said, panting slightly from the wounds Harry had inflicted, "My eyes can only see one path, and that is the path with the least amount of blood. Justice is always there. And the path I follow, is justice."

The fox captain stared up at him sadly,

"Kaname…" he said a little quieter.

Then, the white-haired captain from before stepped forwards,

"You joined with the Menos…why would you want to do that?" his eyes were calculating and Harry could tell he was fishing for information. He might not have been able to catch him anymore, but he was doing all he could.

"I need to keep reaching higher." Aizen answered.

"Have you become that corrupt?" the white-haired man growled, "Have you?"

"You're blinded by your self-righteousness." Aizen said calmly, as though he were talking to a six-year-old, "From the beginning, no one has ever stood at the top. Neither you…nor me, nor the gods." He removed his glasses, then smoothed back his hair, "But soon, that unattainable vacancy at the top will be filled." His glasses shattered in his grip and he looked almost like a completely different person!

"From now on," He said, "I alone will stand at the top."

"Wow…" Harry rolled his eyes, "Good on ya for being a cliché super villain. Maybe next time you'll come up with something better."

Aizen glared down at him, and Harry smirked. Yoruichi shot Harry a look that was somewhere between amused and exasperated.

"What?" Harry asked when several of the captains turned to look at him, "You know it's the truth. It's _always_ about world domination."

The eighth division captain scratched back of his head lazily,

"Well, the kid does have a point."

"See, he agrees with me!" Harry pointed and now Yoruichi was smiling.

"We aren't arguing with you, Harry." She said, pretending to sooth him.

By now Aizen was glaring down at him,

"We'll be seeing each other soon…Harry."

Harry groaned,

"You know, you're the second megalomaniac to say that to me?"

Before Aizen could shoot back a comeback, the hollows retreated and the rip in the sky slammed closed. Harry let out a sigh, then walked back over to Rukia and her brother.

"Can you help him?" Rukia asked, breaking out of her dazed shock.

Harry scratched the back of his head,

"Yeah, probably." He summoned his wand into his hand and scanned Byakuya over carefully, noting each of his injuries, then working on the major ones first. Once he was sure the man was out of danger he looked back up at the captains who were all watching him curiously.

Harry walked over to the white-haired captain, then kneeled down and picked up the scarf that lay at his feet. He began tying it around his head again.

"You know, everyone's seen your face, Harry." Yoruichi raised an eyebrow.

"Force of habit." Harry shrugged, "Could someone take me to Hitsugaya-taichou. I owe him big time for stalling Aizen as long as he did."

"What do you mean?" the white-haired captain asked alert, "What happened to Toshiro?"

"He's with the fourth division right now." Harry explained, "He planned to stall Aizen long enough for Rukia to get away. He put up a good fight. That wound on Aizen's arm proves that."

"He did that?" the white-haired man asked with surprise.

"I couldn't even cut him…" the fox faced man snarled, looking down at the ground helplessly.

"But…how did Toshiro know it was Aizen?" the white-haired man frowned, "And why not say anything…"

"Several reasons." Harry said, "But I feel like that's a story for later. I want to see him; will someone show me where the fourth division is?"

"Oh, yes. Of course." The white-haired man said, "I'll show you there."

"I think I'll join you." The eighth squad captain said, "I could use a nice walk."

Harry shrugged, and let the two captains lead him away. They left into the forest, then towards the stairs in silence while everyone else seemed to rush about in a panic.

"So…your name's Harry?" the eighth division captain asked.

"Yup. I'm Harry Potter. I guess you already knew that, but it's nice to have a formal introduction. I know you are Kyoraku-taichou of the eighth division…and I know you're from the thirteenth but I don't know your full names…"

"My name is Juushiro Ukitake." The white-haired captain introduced.

"I'm Shinsui." He said lazily, not bothering to say his last name.

"It's very nice to meet you. I was actually rather surprised when you two interrupted the execution. I knew that Unohana-taichou and Hitsugaya-taichou where onto Aizen's plot, but I had no idea you two had figured stuff out on your own as well."

"Unohana as well?" Kyoraku blinked, "Well, I guess I should have seen that one coming. She's a smart lady. I'm a bit surprised at Toshiro though…"

"I as well…perhaps you could explain?" Ukitake pressed, and Harry knew that was why they had offered to lead him to the fourth in the first place.

"Well, I met Hitsugaya-taichou almost as soon as I landed in the Seireitei. I was communicating through my enchanted mirror with a…contact of mine, hoping for some more information, when suddenly there was a Zanpakutou at my throat."

"And that was Toshiro." Ukitake realized.

"We fought." Harry said, "He heard me saying something to my contact which had confirmed a suspicion of his, that there was a plot behind the whole execution. I decided to push him a little in the right direction and left him with a hint. To look up previous cases of a Shinigami transferring their powers to a human. I beat him, then healed his wounds while he was unconscious and hid in the shadows. But that's when I came up with an idea."

"An idea?" Kyoraku pressed.

"I decided to team up with Hitsugaya-taichou. He had access to the files in your archive while I had access to a witness who seemed to know who was behind the whole execution. We traded information, and I discovered the true power of Aizen's Zanpakutou, complete hypnosis. His Zanpakutou creates an illusion that confuses all the known senses. That's when we started working on creating something that would counter Aizen's ability."

"And did you?" Ukitake asked with surprise, "Did you actually come up with a way to counter the effects?"

"We did." Harry said, "I had a…unique ability and skill set that aided me. I worked on the creation of the…spell, I guess you could call it, while Hitsugaya-taichou volunteered to test out whatever I came up with. Aizen had left something behind of his power to test it on, after all."

"The body." Ukitake nodded.

"Exactly." Harry agreed.

"And that's how young Toushiro managed to stall Aizen for so long." Kyoraku realized, "He was using…whatever it was you two came up with to counteract the effects."

"Now you're getting it." Harry grinned, "But let me tell you, Hitsugaya-taichou sure is a slave driver. I asked him to give me three days to come up with the proper design. He gave me two…"

Kyoraku laughed,

"I would have been impressed if you had come up with something like that in a year."

"Normally that sort of stuff would take me a week to do. I thought I was spreading myself thin with just three days…And I pulled two all-nighters in a row. Man am I tired!" Harry yawned, all the fighting and sneaking around was finally catching up to him, "I was just lucky…I'd read about a technique that helps a person see through illusions…Anyways, Hitsugaya-taichou volunteered to stall for time during the execution so that Rukia could make her escape. I owe him big time. That's why I want to go down to the fourth division…I'm really good when it comes to healing."

"I saw that." Kyoraku tipped his hat, "I'm assuming you want to heal him?"

"If the fourth squad allows it." Harry agreed, "I also want to thank him. And tell him that Rukia is alive. I bet he's waiting for someone to tell him…will he be in any trouble?"

"I doubt it." Ukitake said, "From what you've told us, his actions were quite noble, and he played a big role in exposing Aizen for the monster he is. If anything, he'll be rewarded."

Harry hummed thoughtfully,

"Maybe he'll get that extra money he requested for repairs."

Kyoraku laughed.


	34. Chapter 34

**Okay, this is the end of the Bleach world. I'm going to end it here for today, but I'll post the next few chapters later, the start of the new arc!**

**I do not own Harry, Bleach or Fairy Tail!**

Hitsugaya was asleep when Harry got there. His wounds were pretty bad, but he was allowed, by the other healers to heal some of the major damage.

He conked out a while later after helping heal some of the other people who had been injured over at the thirteenth division.

Harry found out from Ichigo that Byakuya had only decided to kill his sister because of an honour vow he'd made long ago. It was…strange. He wasn't a horrible person though, Harry thought. But that was when Harry started to realize something about redemptions and about those around him who seemed to be working towards it.

Redemption can only be attained if a person truly wants it…

"I see…" Harry said, "I guess…I'll be leaving here shortly then."

It had been fun at least.

…

00000000000000000

…

A week passed and they were still in the Soul Society. Hitsugaya was up and walking about again. He was getting a lot of attention from the other captains though, something he wasn't used to.

"Harry…"

"Yes, Hitsugaya-taichou?" Harry asked innocently.

His eyebrow twitched,

"You wouldn't by chance be responsible for all the strange roomers being spread around here, would you?"

Harry just smiled, tilting his head to the side,

"I have no idea what you mean. What roomers?"

Harry could tell he was getting to him, a vein pulsed in his forehead,

"Well, there's the roomer that when I took on Aizen the man ran away scared…then there's the other story I heard about how I faced off against a hoard of Menos with nothing but my pinky finger." He seemed to be getting more and more angry the more he talked, "And now, Zaraki keeps trying to challenge me to a battle."

"Really?" Harry blinked, "I only said you took on a hoard of Menos with nothing but your fists…I mean…whoops." He quickly vanished into a shunpo, but he could still hear the young, white haired captain shouting behind him,

"Potter!"

Harry ran off, unable to control his laughter as he fled.

…

0000000000000000000

…..

The night before they planned to leave, Harry had supper at Kukaku's. Actually, nearly all the rescue team did. Harry dragged along Hitsugaya-taichou because…well, it was really just fun to mess with him.

He seemed to enjoy it anyways. It was an opportunity to avoid Zaraki and the sake party Rangiku seemed to be holding in his office.

The next morning though, they left for the world of the living. Ukitake gave Ichigo a substitute Shinigami badge, whatever the hell that meant.

They left through the Senkaimon, only to find the cleaner was chasing them again. But at least they were faster than they were when they had first gone through the gate.

Kind of too bad Rukia stayed behind, Harry thought, unconcerned of the danger the cleaner posed. They leaped out into the human world…only to find themselves hundreds of feet in the air.

"Oh dear." Harry said before they all began to fall, all but him and Yoruichi screamed as they fell towards the earth.

Then, to everyone, but Yoruichi's surprise, they were enveloped in a giant cloth blanket. Then the blanket was pulled away and they were on this flat sort of…blanket, though it felt like they were on a solid platform. Urahara was there, as was Tessai and Jinta.

"My, my," Urahara said waving a white fan in front of his face, sitting in a cross-legged position, "Welcome back, everyone."

"It's good to be back, Urahara-san." Harry smiled, though his smile turned rather scary when he asked, "Now why didn't you tell us about the hogyoku?"

Urahara gulped,

"You…haven't been taking smiling lessons from Unohana-taichou…have you Harry-kun?"

Harry tilted his head to he side,

"What do you mean?"

Ichigo's eye twitched, then he shuddered,

"I guess you wouldn't notice this, Mister Hat n' clogs, but…Harry has always been like that…"

"I imagine by now…you've heard the truth about me then…" he said, sounding ashamed.

Ichigo nodded, then looked off to the side,

"I have."

Urahara took off his hat, then turned around, putting the hat to his chest, one hand on the ground and bowing his head,

"Words cannot express…how sorry I am." He said, and Harry had never actually heard him sound so sincere.

Ichigo let out a sigh,

"Stop. It's alright, I'm not mad about it anymore." He looked back at Urahara, "Look, you didn't really do anything wrong. I'm not sure what your motivation was…But the fact is, you helped all of us become stronger. In the end, you probably saved our lives. For that…we're thankful."

Urahara looked up a moment,

"And Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"It's cool. Believe it or not, this whole situation is a lot like a déjà vu for me…except the last guy didn't apologize and then made me fight a basilisk…But you aren't like that guy. The fact that you apologize, and can actually recognise when you've made a mistake proves that much. Besides, you're one of the few people I actually like."

"What about me?" Ichigo asked.

Harry paused, then looked him over,

"Oh…yeah, you're okay."

Uryu laughed a bit at this,

"Your kind of strange, you know that, Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"I think almost everyone has told me that at some point."

"There is one thing I want to know though." Ichigo said, "Why didn't you just tell me the truth?" he asked Urahara, "Did you think I would get scared and run away?"

Urahara paused,

"Uh…" his face lit up and he waved his fan in front of his face, "Exactly right!"

He was promptly elbowed in the face by Ichigo.

"Now that just pisses me off." The orange haired boy fumed.

"You were taking it so well too…" Urahara moaned, cradling his poor nose.

"One other thing…" Ichigo said, "I want you to apologize to Rukia when you see her. I know she would say the same thing I'd say. Would you do that for me?"

"Yes." He said, eyes shadowed as he crossed his legs again.

"Oh right…" Harry said, looking up at the moon, "I'm going to be leaving soon."

This drew everyone's attention.

"What?" they all seemed to ask at once.

"Where are you going?"

"That's sudden…"

"Yeah…sorry." Harry said, still looking up at the moon, "I guess…if we're talking about secrets…maybe I ought to tell you mine, so you understand."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked looking at Harry a bit startled.

"I'm not from this world." Harry admitted.

"Oh, are you an alien, Harry-kun?" Orihime guessed.

"Uh…" Harry trailed off, "More like a dimensional traveler…does that count as being an alien?" He wondered, then looked as Urahara who simply shrugged.

"Well," Harry said, "See, I was sent on a journey, by a girl named Ana. Or, I guess her full name is Animetopoeia. Basically, I'm not allowed to leave a world until I learn a lesson. Once I learn it, I can leave. This world is the fourth world I've come to so far."

"S-seriously?" Ichigo asked, "Different worlds…"  
Harry shrugged,

"Kind of why I wasn't surprised by Yoruichi. See, I actually visited a world already that was inhabited by talking cats."

"Ah." Yoruichi said, though she sounded a bit dumbfounded as well, "That…explains it."

"Anyways…I'm leaving tonight." Harry said, "But, Ana told me I can revisit any world I want later. So…I'll see you guys again." He winked, "I can't say I know where I'm going next…but once all the lessons are learned, I'm supposed to return to my home world."

"Do you miss it?" Orihime asked sadly.

Harry thought about this a moment. Did he miss it? He'd learned so much from his travels so far, love, friendship, perseverance, the will to fight for what you believe in, believing in himself…No. Harry realized, he didn't miss his home world. He missed some of the other worlds though. Those places where he wasn't really anyone special, but where he felt special, because of the people he spent time with, and the time they spent together.

Back home…he was famous for surviving the murder of his family! People put him down and used him for their own gain…and there was a mad-man out there who wanted to kill him for reasons he didn't understand.

But at the same time…he'd gotten stronger. Not just physically either. The people he spent time with…those people had nurtured him and helped him grow. He had role models now. People to look up to, and happy memories to look back on when he needed something to hold onto.

"To be honest," Harry said, "I don't really miss my home world." He admitted honestly, "But…I like to think that one day I'll gain the strength to go back someday and face the people that hurt me. I know I'll have to. It's inevitable, and I've never really been one to run away from my problems. I don't want to start running now…but I'll learn all I can until I'm able to face them…does that make sense."

A few people nodded.

"Yeah…it does." Ichigo smiled and Harry could tell that he did understand…they all did.

…

00000000000000000000

…..

Harry was dropped off at his apartment. He closed the door and packed his things into his bag. He smiled slightly, then placed his enchanted mirror in his pocket. He'd call them again once he returned.

"Ana…I've learned my lesson."

The girl with colorful hair in a sailor shirt popped into existence in front of Harry, their nosed were touching.

"Well then. I say…let's fall!"

Suddenly the room vanished and they really were falling. Harry didn't scream though. He knew he'd be okay. His eyes alit with the feeling of finding a new adventure.

Then he stopped falling and it was more like he was floating. The world around him began to bleed into existence.

He was in an apartment. He started looking around for clues. It was bigger than his last place. Two bedrooms, one room for bathing, and a room with a toilet in it. In Japan they kept their bathing area separate from the toilet, which was understandable when you thought about it.

On bed in one of the bedrooms was a debit card, some cash, a school uniform and a note.

_Dear Harry,_

_This time you'll be attending Sarayashiki Junior high. In this world you'll be passing as a fourteen-year-old. I figure you can do it, seeing as how short you are._

"Hey!" Harry said out loud. He wasn't that short…though it wasn't too difficult to pass as being a year younger than he really was.

_Your debit card should remain at a constant four hundred thousand yen no matter how much you spend. You have a laptop now, so get going on figuring out where you're supposed to go, okay?_

_Your lovely friend,_

_Animetopoeia_

Harry got to work right away. He wondered what sort of world this one would be. The last one had had ghosts and soul eating demons, the one before that had been a world of wizards, magic and adventures. Before that was a world where artwork came to life…and the first world was one where Harry was hopping dimensions with a different group of travelers.


	35. Chapter 35

**Alright! This chapter marks the halfway point. I am officially through half of what I have already written.**

**I warned you guys, this is going to be a long one.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakushou or Fairy Tail**

He started things off by buying some things for supper. He took a small tour around the neighbourhood and found that he'd probably be better off taking the bus to school in this world, seeing as he was a fair distance from Sarayashiki junior high.

The next day, he changed into his new school uniform. It was navy blue, the standard Japanese boy's style school uniform, in contrast to the blazer he'd warn back at Karakura high school. He put some invisibility potion over the mark on his forehead, then put a headband over top. He wanted to wear something just in case he ran out of potion to cover the mark, but if the teachers asked him to take his headband off…

He took the bus, having bought a bus pass the previous day at the mall, then walked the rest of the way to school, carrying his bag over his shoulder with two fingers.

It was an overall nice looking school, it looked a bit different from Karakura, but the overall structure was very similar.

Harry was in classroom two dash B, but first he had to meet with a Mister Iwamoto in the teacher's room.

"Please excuse me." Harry said, as standard for entering the teachers lounge. He gave a low bow, then walked inside.

"Oh, you must be the new transfer student." A tall bespectacled man with tan skin in a green suit said, he frowned at Harry who immediately felt like he was being observed under a microscope, like a bug.

"Um, my name is Harry Potter, it's very nice to meet you." He bowed again.

"It's nice to meet you too. I will be your homeroom teacher, Takashi Iwamoto." He introduced, "I need to ask you if you will please remove your headband, however."

"Oh, um…I actually wanted to talk to you about that." Harry said, "I…I have a really ugly scar on my forehead…I can use some concealer another time if it's too much trouble, but…"

The man seemed to frown further, he looked like he was about to say something when another teacher spoke up,

"I think that will be fine, Potter-kun."

Harry looked up to see a rather portly looking man in a brown suit, brown hair slicked back professionally.

"Is it really that bad, Potter-kun?"

Harry winced,

"I guess it's not too bad…but…I really hate it." Harry bowed, "Forgive me for speaking so strongly."

"I see." He nodded, "I am the principal of the school, you understand. But I need to be sure you aren't lying."

"I understand." Harry said, he put his hand behind his back and drew on his wand, then cast a simple glamour spell silently without their noticing.

He pulled off the act as hesitation, then slowly lifted up his headband. The principal's eyebrows raised. Harry knew that to him, it would look like a simple crisscrossing scar. Not particularly ugly, but something that people might feel awkward about.

Harry pulled his headband back down.

"How did you get such a scar, Potter-kun?" Iwamoto asked rudely and the principal shot him a disapproving look.

Harry tensed, then decided that sometimes the best lies were part truths.

"Well…um…" he hesitated, like he didn't want to talk about it, truthfully, he did find the question to be rather invasive.

"You weren't in a fight, were you?" Iwamoto asked, and to Harry it sounded like he'd nearly snarled but had to force himself to remain polite in the Principal's company.

"No, no." Harry shook his head, "It's just…it's difficult to talk about." He said shifting a little, "When I was little…my parents were murdered. I got this scar from him."  
The principal's eyes widened,

"Please forgive us, Harry-kun. We didn't mean to pry that out of you. Iwamoto-Sensei tends to be a bit paranoid when it comes to wounds is all." He shot Iwamoto a pointed look.

"I apologize." Iwamoto said, though Harry could tell he didn't really mean it.

Harry didn't like this guy already.

"No…it's fine, I understand. I was sort of expecting the questions and all. It's okay if I wear it then, yes?"

"It's fine." The principal agreed, "You have a good reason, and honestly, I have no idea why it should matter. We have a rather loose dress code and people tend to accessorise all the time. As long as you don't wear a hat, you should be fine."

"I see, thank you very much." Harry bowed.

"Now then, Iwamoto, why don't you take Potter-kun to class." The principal said, and it wasn't a suggestion.

"Of course." Iwamoto said, "Please follow me."  
Harry followed him out of the teacher's lounge, he bowed before he left, wondering why Iwamoto seemed so paranoid. A couple of students said good morning to the man, and he politely returned the greeting as most teachers seemed to do in Japanese schools.

The door slid open, and Harry realized he was supposed to enter.

"Now class," Iwamoto said, "We have a new student her with us today. His name is Harry Potter. Please write your name up on the board and introduce yourself." He ordered.

Harry grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote his name up on the board.

"Hello, my name is Harry Potter. I'm sure you've noticed but it's not a Japanese name. I was born and raised in England. It's nice to meet you all." He bowed.

"Very good." Iwamoto said, "Why don't you take a seat over there next to Yukimura-san. Yukimura-san, please raise your hand."

A girl with brown hair tied back into pigtails raised her hand helpfully and Harry walked over to her and sat in the desk beside her. He noticed that the desk behind her had a vase with a flower, a white lily in it. He blinked a few times, then saw Keiko's puffy eyes, red from crying. She didn't smile either.

Someone in this class had died recently, Harry realized.

So, this wasn't going to end up being some sort of regular teenage drama then…

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At lunch time a boy in a light blue uniform, and it seemed like the navy uniform he wore had just been washed out, came into the classroom, he also had curly orange hair that might have rivaled Ron's. A few people turned to stair at him. He seemed rather upset. He sat down at almost the opposite side of the school.

Harry turned to the girl who was sitting beside him,

"Um, sorry, it's…Yukimura-san, right?" Harry asked, hoping he'd gotten her name right.

"Oh, uh, yes." The girl nodded, she'd just grabbed her lunch bag.

"My name is Harry Potter, um, I guess you knew that already, but formal introductions are always nice."

"My name is Keiko Yukimura." She introduced.

"It's very nice to meet you…sorry, I know this might sound rude, but, who was that boy with the curly orange hair and why were people staring at him?" Harry asked her.

"Oh…" she looked down at her desk, depressed.

"Oh, sorry." Harry said, "You don't need to tell me if it will make you upset. Did something happen between you two?"

"No." she shook her head, "It's just…well, I suppose you'll find out later…the boy who sat behind me, his name was Yusuke Urameshi. We were childhood friends but…he died only a few days ago. At his funeral, Kuwabara-kun made a bit of a scene. The funeral was two days ago and everyone in our class was there…"

"I see…I'm sorry I brought up something that was so painful to you. You must think I'm pretty awful, asking that the first time we've spoken too."

"Oh no." Keiko shook her head, "I don't think you're bad or anything. I think it's normal to ask something like that…and I'm the one who brought up Yusuke's…" she started tearing up.

Harry shot her a sympathetic look,

"I know you probably have a lot of people telling you this already…but I understand. I lost a friend as well just a couple of years back…" he trailed off.

She shook a little,

"Does it ever…go away?"

Harry shook his head,

"No. But I think I have gotten abler to bare it. Death is just another part of life, after all…just another adventure that we all have to travel someday."

She nodded, but looked away.

"My apologies once again." Harry said softly, he got up from his seat and left the classroom, hoping to get a better idea of what his new school looked like.

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On his way out of the school he caught a glimpse of something rather peculiar. A boy in a green boy's school uniform with slicked back hair floating in mid air beside a girl with blue hair tied back into a ponytail and wearing a kimono, ridding on the back of an oar.

Harry tilted his head to the side, then saw that they were watching Keiko.

Were they spirits perhaps? He wondered to himself. He let out a small groan, great, another world with ghosts…

He paused then wondered if he had his science textbook with him. He had homework he had to do and he couldn't just leave it… He pressed his back up against the wall that surrounded the academy. That's when he heard Kuwabara, the boy from before. He seemed to be on the other side of the wall.

"There's no reason to worry Akubo." He reassured, "I'll stay at home all week and won't even lift a finger. I promised I wouldn't get into a fight, and I won't. It's a man's promise."

"You're a real friend." Another boy, Akubo, Harry assumed sounded rather desperate and hopeful.

"I think we should all go home as quick as we can today so the guys from Kazanaga don't see us. Best of luck until tomorrow." He said, then ran off.

Harry found that yes, he did have his science textbook on him, thankfully. He packed it back into his bag, then turned to walk back towards the bus station.

Harry was walking back towards a bridge only a block south of the school when he saw Kuwabara again, he was being beaten up by a gang of boys all sporting a uniform form…someplace Harry wasn't familiar with. He also noticed one of their teachers, Akashi-sensei, a rat faced man with squinty eyes and buck teeth watching from behind a telephone pole, he looked…angry. The boy in the green uniform and the girl with blue hair were watching with horror, like they wanted to save him…

Harry rushed forwards,

"Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" he shouted.

The boys stopped when they saw Harry.

"What's this? A new member of your gang Kuwabara?" one of the boys who was beating him sneered.

"N-no…he's a new…transfer." The red head said.

Harry stared the three attackers down,

"Go away." He said darkly.

"Oh, looks like the kid wants to fight." One of them snickered.

"I don't want to fight." Harry said, "I want you to go and leave this guy alone. Three against one is disgusting and cowardly."

"What did you say?" the taller one, obviously the leader demanded, "Get him, boys."

Harry set his bag down calmly as one of them lunged at him. Harry danced around the first boy, then the second. He pulled on one of their uniform jackets and pulled it over their head, then twisted it into a knot. The boy began struggling with the uniform. Harry tripped the next guy who lunged at him, sending him falling to the ground. The last, and the leader pulled out a knife. Harry raised an eyebrow. The guy lunged, but suddenly found that he wasn't holding the knife. Harry was.

The guy backed away, then ran off while Harry threw away the knife.

"Such a dangerous thing." He murmured.

"W-whoa." Kuwabara said, looking impressed.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, flashing him a kind smile, "Just a minute." He fished through his bag then took out a jar of ointment.

He made his way over to Kuwabara.

"This is a special type of medicine for bruises. You can keep it if you want."  
"W-what?" Kuwabara asked, "N-no, I couldn't, I mean."

"It's alright." Harry said kindly, "I make it myself. I once had a teacher who taught me about herbal medicine. I've been making stuff like this for ages and I have a lot of it, so it's no trouble."

"Thank you." Kuwabara said gratefully, "But…I mean, aren't you going to get into trouble?"

"Why would I?" Harry wondered, "I didn't even throw a single punch."

Kuwabara blinked a few times,

"It's true!" he realized, "But…how did you do that?"

Harry smiled,

"I used to practice martial arts back in England. So why didn't you fight back? You could have done something…"  
"I can't." Kuwabara said.

"That guy's amazing." The girl with the blue hair said, sounding impressed, but Harry didn't look up should he give away the fact that he could see her.

"Just lucky." The boy in green mumbled.

"Why not?" Harry inquired curiously, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't mean to pry or anything, I've been told my curiosity often gets the better of me sometimes."

"Well," Kuwabara shifted, "If…If I get into a fight this week then one of my friends won't be able to work at his part time job anymore. And he really needs it too, he's working for his family, he has to help support them, see."  
Harry frowned,

"That sounds pretty awful…do you want me to help you get home? You never know, the two of us together might scare off anyone that wants to fight you."

Kuwabara beamed,

"You don't have to do that…"  
"I know I don't." Harry said, "But I want to."

"Well…alright then." Kuwabara decided, "You know, you're not bad. My name is Kazuma Kuwabara."

"It's nice to meet you Kuwabara-san. My name is Harry Potter."

"Eh, don't bother with the honorifics. I can't stand the whole thing, too formal and stuffy. You can call me Kazuma if you want, but everyone calls me Kuwabara."

"Alright then, you can call me Harry. I'm not used to honorifics in England, so it would be nice to have someone here who calls me by my given name."  
"Alright then, Harry." Kuwabara said, "Thanks for the help."

"No problem." Harry dismissed.

The two walked down the street, until Harry realized they were right on the edge of one of the poorer neighbourhoods, though just before that area were a series of apartment buildings. Kuwabara led Harry to the apartment, he had a key in his hand.

"Thanks again, Harry. Uh, I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll see you." Harry said, turning around and heading back the way he'd come. He'd missed his bus, but there should be one coming again in fifteen minutes…


	36. Chapter 36

**Yay! More of the story here. Hope you guys are enjoying this.**

**I do not own Yu Yu Hakushou, Harry Potter or Fairy Tail**

Harry arrived at school the next day and found that Kuwabara's face seemed to have cleared up from all the bruises he'd gotten. He made a bee line for Harry's desk.

"Hey, Harry, thank you for that bruise paste or whatever it was the other day. It really helped."

"No problem." Harry waved off, "I always have some on me, and if you need anymore I'll be happy to give you some."

"Thanks again." He said, but Harry noticed something was off.

"Kuwabara, is something wrong?" he asked.

"Huh, oh um…well, Akashi-sensei said that if I didn't get at least fifty points on my next science test then, that friend I mentioned…"

"He's going to take away your friend's part time job privilege." Harry stated, "If you'd like, you can study with me. I'm heading to the library after school. I actually have a special technique when it comes to memorising things like this."

"Really?" Kuwabara asked, "There's a trick to it?"

Harry chuckled a bit,

"There's a lot of different tricks when it comes to studying actually. It's just a matter of finding what works best for you. But I have something in mind that might help you."

"Guess it's Harry Potter to the rescue again." The girl with the blue hair said, she was hovering just above the two of them.

"Yeah well…I think there's something off about this guy." The boy in green huffed.

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Harry took some neat looking notes during class, then closed up his book when the bell chimed. Once class was over, he met up with Kuwabara and the two of them went to the library to study. Harry took out some paper from his bag and quickly ripped it up.

"Uh…what are you doing, Harry?" Kuwabara asked.

"You'll see in a minute." Harry promised, he took out a pen and began writing down the most important things onto the papers.

"Kuwabara, do you like playing games?" Harry asked him.

"Uh, yeah I guess." He said looking down at the cards.

"Well, this is a lot like that card game, if there's any question on these cards you think you can answer, just pick it up, turn it over and see if you're right. If you are, you keep the card, if not, then you have to put it back. Based on my notes, these are questions that you'll likely find on the test tomorrow."

"I see." Kuwabara said, looking the questions over.

"The test is on chapters four and five from our book." Harry continued, "So, before we start the game, we're going to review the chapter first."

"Uh, okay." He said, opening up his textbook.

As they went through it, Harry asked Kuwabara questions, always after they had finished going through a paragraph, and it was always a question on that same paragraph.

Then they started their game. Kuwabara was proud to say he'd gotten about ten of the twenty questions. But Harry went through it all again and Kuwabara nodded along. He played the game and got more this time, then more again. Then they had to make up new questions.

"He might actually be able to do this." The boy in the green uniform said from behind them and Harry had to wonder why they were sitting in on their study session.

"It seems this Harry Potter is really smart." The girl with the blue hair said, "I think it's good Kuwabara made a friend like him."

"Maybe." The boy in green admitted grudgingly.

"Hey, thanks again, Harry." Kuwabara said, it was growing dark out when they'd decided to go home.

"Don't mention it. I wanted to review as well." Harry added, "I suggest studying again before the test, but from what I saw, you should do okay."

He laughed,

"Thanks, see ya later." He waved, walked off once Harry's bus came.

"See you, Kuwabara." He waved back.

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They studied again the next day. Kuwabara was really serious about the test it seemed. He studied through lunch, then asked Harry if they could study in the library together again.

"I just can't seem to remember stuff as well without you to help." He admitted.

"I was going to study in the library again anyways." Harry shrugged, he was lying but it didn't really matter. He actually wanted to help the guy…

The day after was the test. Harry saw Kuwabara walking to school with his nose in a textbook…then he saw the most peculiar sight. A group of thugs were running up from behind Kuwabara, ready to attack, when a girl with long brown hair came running up to them and started fighting them off like a wild animal. Harry noticed that her energy felt rather odd though…it seemed she was possessed.

Then, after she'd beaten up all three guys, she let out a sigh,

"I feel better." Then looked over to where Kuwabara was walking and saw Harry who just looked at her strangely. Then the spirit of the guy in the green uniform floated out of her. The girl looked around at the unconscious guys and let out a scream,

"Somebody help me!"

Harry decided to just turn around and ignore the odd spectacle. It was a little worrying though that the ghost could possess people though…

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During the exam, the boy in the green uniform hovered over Kuwabara, sitting cross legged in the air. Harry found the test easy, but that was likely due to how well he'd done in his previous school, which had been a grade level higher.

During lunch, Kuwabara ran up to Harry, excitedly,

"Harry, I did it! I scored at least fifty-six points, I might have even gotten into the sixties!"  
"Really? That's great, Kuwabara." Harry smiled happily, "How do you know your score?"

Kuwabara grinned, then tried to look clever,

"I copied my answers down on some scrap paper and looked up the answers in the textbook. I haven't looked it all over yet, but I know I got at least fifty-six."

"That's awesome. See, I told you. You had nothing to worry about." Harry said.

"Yeah, well, it was all thanks to you, really. Your study methods really made things easy."

"Don't mention it." Harry waved away.

"No but seriously." Kuwabara said, sobering, "I really owe you a lot. First you save me, then you give me medicine for my wounds, and now you've helped me pass my test."

Harry smiled slightly,

"I don't think you owe me anything…I can't say I know why I wanted to help you or anything…but I think part of it is that I don't really know anyone here…so, what do you say, wanna be friends?"

"Of course." Kuwabara nodded, "And if there's anything I can do for you, don't hesitate to ask, okay?"

"Well," Harry grinned mischievously, "There is one thing. I don't really know the town all that well. Mind giving me a bit of a tour?"

Kuwabara grinned,

"If that's all you want, I think we can do that. How about after class today? I kind of feel like celebrating."

"Sure." Harry said, "See you after class."

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Harry was led by Kuwabara and his friends to the arcade, a few stores down town, and the mall again. Several of Kuwabara's friends thanked him for helping him study, and for fighting off those gang members.

"I kind of can't believe you did fight them off, Potter-san. I mean, you look so small and weak…"

"Not to mention he's a pretty boy." Another one of the snickered.

"I'm not that small." Harry pouted, "I mean, I'm not the shortest guy in our class, and I'm taller than Kubo."

"True, but you're still thin and…no offence, but a bit girly looking."

Harry's eye twitched, he didn't like being called 'girly,' even though Ichigo had mentioned it himself before.

"So how did you beat them up anyways?" one of them asked.

"Oh, I used to practice martial arts at my old school." Harry half-lied, "I was pretty good too. I never really entered any competitions though."

"You gonna join our team at school?" Kuwabara asked.

Harry hummed to himself,

"I haven't really decided yet." He admitted, "I might though. Some of the teachers have been breathing down my neck lately…they sure are restrictive when it comes to their students' freedom here. Joining the martial arts club might be incentive for them to leave me alone." Harry frowned, "At the same time though, I tend to have other things on my mind other than school. Hopefully, making good grades and staying out of too much trouble will be enough motivation for them to just leave me be."

"Yeah, you're pretty smart, Harry." Kuwabara complimented, "I mean, just from studying with you I could already tell that you knew all the material."

"Thank you." Harry smiled, "I'd say my worse subject though is Japanese. It's not my native language so I still have difficulty with it."

"Well, I doubt I could help you there. All my marks are crap." Kuwabara admitted, "And your Japanese is really good for someone who didn't grow up speaking it. I can't even tell."

"Well, that's reassuring at least." Harry smiled slightly with a hint of amusement.

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The next day they all got their tests back. Harry got a hundred, a perfect score. Kuwabara went over to Harry's desk smiling,

"I did it!" he said, "Sixty-four big ones! Thanks, Harry."

"You did all the work, Kuwabara. I just gave you a little push." Harry said.

"Whatever you say." But the grin didn't leave his face, "Man, you should have see Akashi-sensei's face! He was so pissed off."

Harry chuckled.

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A week later, they all had exams and the next day their standing in their grade level came out. Harry actually found out that he was ranked number one in his grade year, only just beating out Keiko Yukimura, the girl who sat next to him. Keiko was a good sport about it though, congratulating him on his top marks. Harry did the same.

As he'd hoped, his teachers laid off him once they saw he had good grades, thankfully. Kuwabara was impressed, but unsurprised. Harry had helped him study again for the exam, and his grades had risen exponentially.

However, the day after their exams, Harry noticed a young girl with turquoise hair in a frilly dress floating over Keiko's seat. What was with these ghosts, and why were they so interested in Kuwabara and Keiko? Harry wondered if it had anything to do with the dead boy…

After school, Harry and Kuwabara went to an empty lot where Kuwabara had set up a practice dummy that looked suspiciously like the ghost of that boy with the slicked back hair in the green uniform.

"You sure don't like this 'Urameshi' guy, huh?" Harry said as Kuwabara punched the dummy in the gut.

"Well…"

"Kuwabara, we've got an emergency!" it was the girl in the blue hair, she was riding towards them on her oar at top speed.

"Hey, listen to me…"  
"What?" Harry asked, looking right at her.

The girl jumped back and stared at Harry with wide eyes.

"What is it, Harry?" Kuwabara asked, stopping his beating of the dummy.

"Can you…can you see me?" she asked looking at Harry, who just nodded.

"Harry, man…is something wrong?"

"Listen, there's no time!" the girl said, "If you can see me, then you need to get over there!" she said pointing off to the distance, smoke was rising from what Harry guessed was an apartment complex. Harry's eyes widened,

"What's…going on?" he asked her.

"Please, there's no time! There's someone still inside and…"  
Harry's lips thinned into a straight line.

"We need to go, Kuwabara, come on!" Harry said, taking off into a run.

"W-what? Harry, wait up!" Kuwabara ran after him and Harry was wondering if he should have let him tag along at all, he was a lot slower than Harry.

"I still don't understand how you can see me." The girl frowned.

But Harry didn't say anything, not answering. Not wanting Kuwabara to know yet that he could see these spirits.

They turned a corner when Kuwabara said,

"I know a short cut, down this alley!" he said, not slowing down. He seemed to have a good amount of stamina at least.

They turned down the alley and then back onto a road until they were at an apartment complex. The place was on fire and there was a crowd of people surrounding the place.

"The fire's blocking the door!" someone said.

"I told that girl…I told her!" someone shouted.

"What girl?" Harry asked, eyes narrowed, "Is someone still inside there?"

"Two people." A woman in the crowd answered, "There was a girl though who ran inside to save someone else in there."

"Oh no…" Kuwabara said, "T-that's Urameshi's house."

"What!?" Harry shouted, looking back into the flames, he looked up at the blue haired girl who flew right into the fire.

"Oh no…" Harry murmured, and he didn't know what to do. He moved over to a water pump and turned it on, grabbing a bucket of water,

"Kuwabara, grab a bucket. Maybe we can quench the flames at the door. If we make a pathway for Keiko then…" it was a long shot, but Harry was desperate.

Kuwabara grabbed an extra bucket and the two of them began running back and forth between the doorway and the water pump, pouring down as much water as they could.

"Dammit!" Harry cursed, they weren't getting anywhere! If only there was something more he could do…

Maybe if he called Virgo she could dig a tunnel inside! But…any holes in the structure could bring the whole place down. Harry doubted the place could withstand any more damage.

Before Harry could think of another method, the flames began to glow blue, then part. It was an immense burst energy that parted the flames, and Harry couldn't tell where it had all come from. All he knew was that he could see Keiko now, carrying someone wrapped up in a blanket. Harry and Kuwabara rushed inside to help her carry her burden.

They slowly made their way outside into the fresh air. They lay down whoever was wrapped in that blanket while the roar of sirens neared them.

"Typical," Kuwabara spat, "Now the fire trucks arrive…Hey, whatcha' got under the blanket anyways?"

"Um…" Keiko shifted slightly.

Kuwabara removed some of the cloth then stumbled back when he saw the face that had been hidden beneath it. He let out a cry and pointed,

"W-what are you doing with Yusuke's body!?"

"I promise I'll tell you everything." Keiko said worriedly, "But not right now. We've gotta get him somewhere safe."

Harry noticed that she was checking him over slightly with her eyes. Was she worried about harming him? Harry approached the supposed corpse and realized that he was still breathing.

"He's alive." Harry said, then looked him over, "A coma?" he wondered, "Either way, you're right. We can't leave him here."

"H-he's alive?" Kuwabara asked with disbelief, "B-but I attended his funeral! I…"  
"He's breathing." Harry said, letting his hand hover over his mouth, feeling the week breath, "He's inhaled some smoke though. His lungs might be damaged."

He reached into his student bag and pulled out a tube of sorts.

"This should help. It's a special type of smelling salt." He pressed it beneath Yusuke's nose. He really wanted to run some diagnostics on him.

"You really just keep that stuff on you?" Kuwabara asked Harry looking confused.

"I told you, I have some training in this area. I'd much rather give him a more thorough exam in case he's suffering from something more."

"His breathing seems to be coming easier." Keiko noted, "You really know about this stuff?"

"Just some basic remedies." Harry nodded, "I have a special bruise paste in my bag. It's not the best for burns, but it should help a little bit. Let's move him first."

"I've got him." Kuwabara said, slinging him none so gently over his shoulder. Harry really wanted to reprimand him for the treatment but before he could, Kuwabara grabbed Keiko's hand and started running. Harry let out a sigh, then ran after them.

They managed to get Yusuke to the hospital. He was checked over, all of them were. Besides a few burns, Keiko and Yusuke were alright. Harry and Kuwabara hadn't sustained any damage at all. They gave Yusuke a wheelchair to help them push him around. Keiko was the one to wheel him back to the burnt remains of his home.

They saw a woman there, Yusuke's mother who apologised for putting them at risk.

"It's okay." Keiko said, "Yusuke's body is safe, and that's what's important. I saw a road of blue fire leading me out. It was like a big explosion and I was surrounded by his presence." She looked back down at Yusuke, a lot of emotions were dancing across her face and Harry could tell that she loved him. It reminded him a bit like how Syaoran had acted towards Sakura. So that had been Yusuke…he had saved her.

"Yusuke saved me because he knows he's returning." Keiko said smiling.

"I still can't believe it!" Kuwabara said, laughing goofily, "Yusuke, you old rascal!"  
The mother knelt down to her sleeping son,

"Oh Yusuke, I'm sorry about that fire, but you're okay now at least, right?" she asked, brushing aside his bangs from his face.

"This is so stupid!" Harry looked up to see the boy in the green uniform, and he realized that this ghost was the ghost of the sleeping boy, "Isn't someone gonna tell them they're just talking to a dead body!? Stop apologizing, mom! I'll never be around to say it's okay! I'm dead for good!" his head sunk and Harry could tell he was trying really hard not to cry.

What did he mean? Harry wondered, was he really dead for good? But he was still breathing, or at least his body was.

"Okay Boton, just take me to heaven or hell or wherever it is I'm going, I'm tired of being here." He said to the blue haired girl.

At least Harry knew her name now.

"Yusuke Urameshi." A disembodied voice said, "There's no reason to act like a baby."

This particular statement was rather ironic as a giant toddler appeared in the sky…what the hell? Harry thought to himself. He'd seen some weird shit before, but a giant toddler? Seriously?

"What? Koenma?" Yusuke asked, and Harry got the impression that though he was surprised by the toddler's appearance he wasn't surprised at the fact that a giant toddler was speaking to him at all.

"Koenma, sir?" Boton and the turquoise haired kid spirit said together.

Harry blinked a few times…so…the afterlife was governed by a giant toddler? Suddenly he didn't feel so safe…

"Sayake, I've received your report." The toddler said, then looked at Yusuke's spirit, "Yusuke, you've shown to have more character than I thought. I've been trying to figure out if the people around you really want you back. Contrary to my personal opinion, they actually do. More importantly," He continued, "You've exhibited astounding potential to be a decent human being. Because this trait is so rare, I've decided to give you another chance."

Harry chuckled, he knew it wasn't going to just end like that…thank goodness.

"In retrospect, it's a very good thing you threw this egg into the fire." His hand moved from around his back, revealing that he was holding a golden egg in his hand, "If you had kept it then the spirit beast, which had been feeding off your constant negative energy, would have devoured you had it hatched. But as you and I both know, that's not what happened. You threw the egg into the fire without hesitation, saving Keiko's life at the cost of your own. You have a special quality buried underneath all that crap. And your added experience with death could make you very useful."

Harry's eyes twitched, there was an ulterior motivation here then…

"You think I'm useful!?" Yusuke wondered, disbelieving.

"So, are you giving his life back?" Boton asked hopefully.

"Mm hmm." The toddler nodded.

"Oh, Koenma. You're so gracious!" Boton gushed.

"Just as long as you don't call me a toddler anymore." Koenma said, shooting Yusuke a pointed look, then faded away into the night.

There was a length of silence, then Yusuke began to grin, then laugh,

"Yeah!" he cheered.

Boton pulled him into a hug,

"Yusuke!" she shouted, then began to swing him around, laughing along with him, "I'm so happy for you!"

Harry looked back over at Keiko and smiled. It seemed that she had been wrong. Yusuke hadn't saved her because he knew he had been coming back. He saved her, because he loved her. And he did it believing that he was giving up the chance to continue living.

They didn't know though…and Harry wouldn't tell them. He'd keep silent. For now.


	37. Chapter 37

**Yu Yu Hakushou is an older anime. It aired in the nineties and, well, nineties anime is my absolute favourite! The art style is beautiful, I love the exaggerated shading, the glassy eyes and long lashes. The female characters, in my opinion seemed a lot more interesting back then.**

**Anyways, fun fact, the guy who wrote Yu Yu Hakushou is the same guy who wrote Hunter x Hunter. He is also married to the woman who wrote Sailor Moon.**

**Yu Yu Hakushou aired at around the same time as Dragon Ball, so it was kind of overshadowed. People didn't start paying it any attention until the two thousands. Highly recommend it, especially if you like Hunter x Hunter. I kind of had a hard time deciding which one I should put in the Animetopoeia. I chose this one kind of on a whim. But I did write in a Hunter x Hunter crossover in my Dark Animetopoeia to make up for that. I just thought…A lot of the people in Hunter x Hunter are kind of psychopaths and I really wanted an assassin Harry who could use Rhythm Echo.**

**This was a tough decision. Really, it was. The 2011 Hunter x Hunter followed the story more closely, but the original 90s anime was so much grittier and explored these really dark corners that the remake just…didn't.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakushou or Fairy Tail**

The next day, Harry sat in class listening to the teacher's lecture on plant biology. He noticed that Keiko looked a bit dazed. She kept glancing over at Kuwabara's seat uncertainly. The door to the classroom slid open revealing the principal.

"Yukimura-san. Keiko Yukimura-san?" he called.

Keiko stood up in her seat,

"Yes, sir?"

"Would you come with me?" he asked, "There's something wrong with your mother."

Keiko looked alarmed, then quickly gathered her bag and walked out the door quickly. Harry's eyes drifted off to the side, wondering what that was all about…

Harry made his way up to the roof at lunch and opened up his bento.

"Harry!" Harry looked up to see Boton flying down on her oar.

"Oh, hey." Harry said, he was certain he was alone, so it wasn't like anyone would tell him he was crazy.

"You _can_ see me, I knew it!" Boton exclaimed.

Harry nodded,

"Yeah, I can see spirits…Are you a ghost? You seem to be helping out Yusuke but you also seem different from him somehow…"

"Oh no. I'm not just a ghost. I'm a ferry girl, or a Shinigami if you want to get technical." She giggled.

"Oh." Harry blinked a few times, trying to connect this bubbly oar ridding girl to the Shinigami he'd seen in the previous world, "That sounds like an interesting job."

"And what about you?" Boton asked, "You're obviously not a normal human."

Harry hummed at this,

"I guess not. Sorry, would you like something to eat? I made plenty."

"Oh, thank you." She said, grabbing two egg rolls and popping them in her mouth, "This is delicious, did you make it yourself?"

"Yes, I did."

Then Boton shook herself,

"Oh, I'm getting distracted, bad Boton." She knocked herself over the head, "In any case, Yusuke needs your help!"  
"My help?" Harry blinked, wondering what sort of help Yusuke could possibly need.

"Yes, he's coming back to life today." Boton explained, "But in order for him to come back, he needs life energy to start up the process."  
"Life energy?" Harry wondered.

"He needs someone to kiss him." She explained.

"You want me to kiss him?" Harry asked her, not at all looking put out by this, "Alright, his mother already got a place, right? I guess I can make my way there." He began packing up his lunch.

"Just like that?" Boton asked disbelievingly.

Harry shrugged,

"I want him to wake up. It's sad seeing Keiko and Kuwabara so unhappy. Besides, I knew someone that died not long ago…I can understand."

Boton nodded, looking at him a little curious,

"You certainly are strange, Harry."

Harry smiled, it seemed people would be telling him that in every world he entered.

"So, I've been told. Let's go."

He walked back into the classroom and grabbed his bag and things. He jumped on a bus, Boton hung around him, watching him the whole time.

When he got off at the stop closest to Yusuke's apartment, Harry said out loud.

"You know; you don't have to keep staring at me like that."

"Sorry." Boton apologised, "It's just…the fact that you can see me so clearly proves that you must have immense spiritual power."

Harry smiled a bit at this,

"I've had experience with spirits before…all though most of them weren't particularly friendly." He admitted.

He walked up to the apartment door and tried to open up the door. It was locked. Of course, Harry thought. He took out a pen from his bag, then drew a ruin on the lock. He pressed his fingers against it. The ruin glowed green a moment, then Harry opened up the door.

"What was that?" Boton wondered.

"Don't worry, the lock should work again." Harry dismissed her concern, though Boton protested,

"That's not what I was worried about…" she trailed off.

Harry walked up the stairs. Then hummed to himself, stopping outside one of the doors.

"This is the apartment, right? I'm afraid I wasn't paying too much attention yesterday." He admitted.

"Yes, this is the place." Boton confirmed.

Harry juggled the door handle, but it was locked too. He pulled out his pen again and drew the same ruin on the handle. The lock disengaged and Harry walked into the apartment, taking off his shoes.

"I feel like this is super illegal." Harry sighed, "I'd better not get into trouble for this."

"Don't worry, Harry. Once Yusuke wakes up it will all be good."

Harry shrugged, then walked down the hall and opened up a sliding door. Yusuke wasn't there…

"Over here." Boton said, gesturing to another room.

Harry opened up the door and noted that Yusuke's body appeared to be glowing with a yellow-golden hue. Yusuke's spirit, and the toddler from before were there, waiting at Yusuke's bedside.

"So Boton was right." The toddler said, turning to face Harry, "You are unusually attuned to the spirit world, more so than even Kuwabara."

Harry looked between them then gave a small nod,

"I don't really know Yusuke. But I don't want to see those closest to him remain so sad. I want to help him come back."

"R-really?" the spirit of Yusuke asked disbelievingly.

Harry shrugged,

"I'll help however I can." He walked over to where Yusuke was, he could feel the strange energy that surrounded the body, connecting it to the spirit world. It just needed energy. Harry knelt down, and kissed the boy right on the lips. It was quick, and Harry drew away pretty fast. But he noticed that Yusuke's spirit had disappeared. Harry could see the energy inside Yusuke jump start. The boy's eyes flickered open, and the previously unconscious body rose up from his bed.

Boton and the toddler seemed to disappear, though Harry could tell they were floating somewhere above the apartment complex. He could still feel their presence.

"How you feeling?" Harry asked him.

Yusuke looked around, flexed his hand, looking down as though he had no real way to explain just how he was feeling. He quickly wiped his lips though.

"You tell anyone we kissed and you'll regret it." The growled.

Harry rolled his eyes. This guy was a lot like Ichigo in the whole 'upholding his image' sort of way.

"Do I look like I care? And how about a bit of thanks? I did just help bring you back from the dead you know." Harry watched in amusement as Yusuke looked away, crossing his arms over his chest.

It was clear to Harry that he wasn't about to say 'thank you.'

"Oh well, you hungry? You haven't eaten in a while. I can make something for you if you want." He suggested.

Yusuke shot him a strange look,

"Why are you being so nice to me? It's not like we've met before or anything."

Harry rolled his eyes,

"I don't know. 'Because you don't seem like much of a cook, your body might be a little weak, and I happen to be pretty good at cooking and can do something about it?" Harry suggested, "Why shouldn't I help someone who needs it?"

Yusuke just shot him a strange look. Harry sighed, then turned and walked out of his bedroom, moving off to the kitchen. He looked through the fridge and found some eggs, some milk, but not much else.

"You don't have much in terms of ingredients." Harry noted, but there was some stuff there that he could use.

He settled on making beef stew. He'd gotten the recipe from Tatsuki's mother and it was simple enough with few ingredients.

"That smells good." Yusuke said coming out of his room, "So, you can really cook?"

"Yup." Harry said, "I've been living on my own for a couple of years now. Plus, I like cooking."

He turned the element on the stove off and got out a bowl from the cupboard. There was a pile of dirty dishes on the counter. It was clear that Yusuke and his mother weren't particularly good at cleaning.

Harry gave Yusuke the bowl of stew.

"Go eat." He said, "I'm going to clean up the kitchen a bit. This is a mess." He said, filling the sink with warm water and dish soap.

"Uh, okay…geez, you're like a guy version of Keiko." He said in a huffy sort of tone.

He took the bowl of stew Harry had poured him and sat down at the dinning room table then started eating.

"It's good." He murmured and Harry knew he wasn't really meant to hear that, but he had, and smiled to himself.

He cleaned up the kitchen then dried off his hands and gave a small stretch as Yusuke went back for more of the stew Harry had made, and he had made plenty.

"There should be more there for tomorrow." Harry said, "Mind if I eat here? I haven't finished my lunch and I don't want it to go to waste. Boton came flying in all panicked like during my lunch period."

"Sure." Yusuke said, "Knock yourself out."

Harry sat down and took out his lunch, finishing up his meal as Yusuke ate his stew.

"Still though," the self-proclaimed punk said, "How is it you can see spirits? And why didn't you say anything early on?"

Harry shrugged,

"I've been able to see stuff like that a while. I'm not really used to letting other people know about that though, and I try to keep it a secret. I used to live with some relatives who hated anything strange." Harry grimaced, "They called me a freak…and they absolutely hated me. You can tell I don't have a good track record or anything."  
"I see." Yusuke nodded, "I know some kids who have grown up in some pretty shitty situations. Most of the time they're distrustful of adults and…well, anyone really."

Harry raised an eyebrow,

"That's very insightful." He commented.

Yusuke sneered,

"You don't have to sound all surprised." His eyes narrowed in suspicion at Harry, "I don't particularly trust you…but you did save my life so…thanks."

Harry nodded,

"You're welcome. And you have a grounds for not trusting me. I do have some secrets that I don't particularly want to tell you, or anyone really. I'm not going to lie though."

Yusuke seemed to tilt his head, still not buying it,

"Fair enough." He said cautiously.

"Well…I guess I'll lie to get out of life threatening situations…or detentions." Harry grinned, "But I won't lie otherwise."

"Now that I believe."

Despite Yusuke's positive bill of health, he didn't return to class until a week after he had woken up.

Harry had met up with Kuwabara and his friends on the way to school and walked with them. When they got to the gates, Yusuke was there and everyone in the vicinity was looking at the green clad boy with fear.

Kuwabara placed a hand on his shoulder, causing Yusuke to turn around.

"Kuwabara?" he wondered.

Kuwabara smiled, his eyes sparkling,

"I hear ya, life's a drag." He jumped back and looked about ready to fight, "But don't worry. You'll be in ghost land soon!" he declared, "After I put you there myself!" he began laughing and Harry just raised an eyebrow at the behaviour.

"Kuwabara," Okubo said leaning in slightly, "Shouldn't you be thanking him for rescuing your kitten?"

"I'll thank him as soon as I've finished beating him up!" Kuwabara shouted, causing Okubo to cringe slightly.

Harry slapped a hand to his face and Yusuke just looked on with a deadpanned expression. Sometimes Kuwabara and logic just didn't seem to get along at all.

"No…" Yusuke said, "Not much has changed at all." A book was slapped over his head, it was the principal who had just walked in through the gates,

"Don't be foolish." He said, walking off towards the school. Yusuke rubbed the back of his head and glared at the man.  
"First period begins in one and a half minutes." The man continued, "I'm sure you'll be in your seat by then."

"Dammit! Takenaka...I'm thinking I'm gonna have to skip." Yusuke huffed.

"You could at least go to your first day back!" Keiko shot back, not wanting him to miss classes at all.

"Yeah! I thought you'd be smarter after being dead." Kuwabara laughed.

"Kuwabara…that doesn't make any sense." Harry said, "How does being dead make someone smarter…wait, did he say a minute and a half? We're gonna be late!"

Harry and Keiko ran into the school, though it seemed Yusuke and Kuwabara made their way down slower, not really caring whether they made it or not.

Thankfully, Harry and Keiko made it to class right on time. Harry sat down at his desk, letting out a sigh or relief. That had been a close one…


	38. Chapter 38

**Hope everyone's enjoying the story still. There's a long way to go yet. A very…very long way to go…**

**So, Harry has slowly been gaining strength like most Shonen protagonists, but he's developed a few flaws that should probably be addressed before he gets anyone killed.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail or Yu Yu Hakushou**

After Harry returned from gym class he noticed that several people were looking through their things. It seems that a thief had taken their things. Harry looked through his bag too.

"Someone took my bruise balm, pain-relievers and smelling salts!" Harry exclaimed.

"What?" Keiko wondered, "But…who would have taken that? Is all your herbal medicine gone, Harry?"

"Yeah." He said, "I don't mind giving stuff like that away to people who need it, but the fact that it was taken…"

"I understand." She said.

Just then Yusuke walked in through the door and several people turned to look at him accusingly.

He gave a small stretch and yawn,

"I'm back…" he murmured.

Then paused, looking around and noticing that everyone was looking at him,

"Alright, what's with the staring?" he demanded.

Keiko seemed to realize what was happening and quickly ran over and stood in front of him protectively,

"You guys think Yusuke did it? He's no thief!"

"He's a thug, Keiko." One of the boys in class accused, "And I don't know there's much of a difference. He did skip gym."

"I don't think he did it." Harry said and a couple of people looked at him. Harry shrugged, unconcerned, "I've seen Yusuke save a cat before from a gang of thugs. Despite all your accusations and all the rumors, has he ever hurt any of you? Or has he ever stolen anything before?"

Yusuke blushed pink,

"Harry, shut up!"  
Harry grinned slyly,

"Oh? Can you really deny that, Yusuke?"

Yusuke looked away and grumbled something under his breath angrily. Keiko actually laughed a little bit at the show down.

"He's got you there, Yusuke."

The door to the classroom slid open, revealing Iwamoto,

"Hey! What's this racket about?"

Despite Harry's speech, it seemed that there were still people who believed Yusuke was guilty and they weren't above immediately pointing the finger at him.

Iwamoto dragged Yusuke out of the class while Harry watched on with worry. Harry got up from his desk,

"I'm going to make sure they're okay. I don't trust Iwamoto-sensei." He walked down the hall down towards the teacher's lounge, only to see the principal walking after Iwamoto looking furiously at the teacher. Yusuke came out of the class as well, Koenma popped into existence next to him.

"You've been freed from the charge, now go to work!"

"Okay, okay, I'll get to it!" Yusuke said, still glaring at Iwamoto angrily, "But before that, he pays." He said smacking his fist into his hand threateningly.

"That's not a smart policy, Yusuke." Koenma scolded, hands on his hips. And really it looked weird for a toddler to scold anyone, "Assaulting a teacher when you've been set free…"

"I can't just let him go like that!" Yusuke shouted angrily.

"Then attack him invisibly."

Yusuke nearly fell over as such a ridiculous suggestion,

"Give me a break! Do I look invisible!?"

"It's one of your new abilities." Koenma explained, "Try to take control of your reiki, then gather as much as you can into your right index finger."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow, but decided to take the suggestion. He held up his index finger and seemed to concentrate hard. Harry watched on with curiosity. He had much better control of his energy than Ichigo had. Although Ichigo had been a powerhouse from the start, while Yusuke's energy was rather weak.

A blue light formed at his finger tip.

"It's warm…" Yusuke said a bit disbelieving.

"Good, now all you have to do is aim and shoot." Koenma said, "Imagine the trigger in your mind and then pull it tight."

Yusuke pointed his finger at Iwamoto's head.

"Pull, huh?" he grimaced as he tried to keep it all up.

Then the blue light flew at Iwamoto, hitting him square in the back of the head, making the man fall to the floor.

"Iwamoto, are you alright?" the principal asked, running up to the still body of the teacher, "What happened?"

"It worked." Yusuke said.

"Yusuke!" Harry said, revealing himself, Koenma turned around too.

"Oh, Harry, this is really convenient." The toddler said, "You two should go together."

"What?" Harry blinked, "Go where?"

"Wait, what are you doing here?" Yusuke frowned.

"I was worried." Harry said, "I don't like Iwamoto-sensei. I thought that maybe if I spoke out on your behalf that maybe…well, I don't really know what I was thinking." Harry shrugged, "It's clear you could handle it yourself, otherwise Iwamoto wouldn't have looked so mad."

Yusuke snorted,

"I still don't get why you want us to team up."

Koenma turned to Harry,

"Harry, I know you have some spiritual abilities, you wouldn't be able to see me otherwise. But do you have any training in your powers?"

Harry nodded,

"A bit." He said cryptically.

"Boton says you're good in a fight, so I'll trust her judgement on the matter." Koenma said decisively, "Three items were stolen from my father's vault and the thieves are hiding out here, in the world of the living." He said, explaining it all for Harry, "Your chief concern will be recovering the items. The shadow sword will turn whoever it cuts into a monster. The forlorn hope is a mirror that emits a cryptic power during the full moon. The orb of Baast can capture souls, especially those of children."

Harry frowned,

"That's not good. Why weren't the artifacts better guarded?"

Koenma froze,

"Um, well…it was my mistake." He admitted, "We were supposed to beef up security on the vault a month ago. But even with the security it's at now, it would have taken a master thief to break in."

Harry nodded,

"Have you identified the thieves yet?"

Yusuke looked at Harry questioningly.

"Yes, we have." Koenma said, clearing his throat, "There are three criminals, a boy about the same age as you two named Kurama. But that's all we know on him, somehow, he's avoided our files. Then we have Hie, he's a bit of a mystery but from the information I've gotten on him so far, he's more of a loaner."

"So, it's odd then that he'd be teaming up with anyone." Harry completed, "Who's the last one?"

"Goki is his name. He's a run of the mill crook. He killed his last ten pursuers."

"Yikes…" Yusuke said, shaking a little.

"Don't worry." Harry told him.

"Come to think of it, you don't seem to be worried at all." Koenma observed.

"I'm used to this sort of thing." Harry admitted, "This might be a bit much for Yusuke though. A cut-throat killer on his first real job?"

Koenma sighed,

"I normally would just give him some smaller cases and wait for him to develop his abilities, but there's no time. The objects need to be recovered by the end of the week. If my father finds out their missing…well, he's got a bit of a temper. He might even sink a whole cotenant!" Koenma paled.

"He'd do that?" Harry asked alert.

Koenma nodded nervously,

"I'm sorry about this, Yusuke, Harry."

Harry looked at Yusuke with concern,

"So…you up for saving the world?"

Yusuke sighed, then scratched the back of his head,

"Fine." He said, "At least I know what's on the line…"  
"So do you have any idea where they might be? Any leads at all?" Harry pressed.

"We think they're somewhere in uptown." Koenma said, "You need to start investigating right away, you only have a week remember."

He then faded from existence before Harry could ask anymore questions. Harry let out a small breath,

"Alright, let's go." Harry said turning around, Yusuke followed after him.

"You know, Koenma did have a point. You seem to be taking this rather well." He told Harry pointedly.

"Yeah…" he breathed, "I've been in my fair share of life or death situations." He shot Yusuke a smile, "You'd be surprised how often the world seems to be in peril. First time when I was eleven I had to face down the psycho that killed my parents." Harry listed, "Oh, and save a magic stone that granted immortality. Then after that there was a basilisk, a giant snake that was about fifty to sixty feet long." He elaborated, "There was also the time I saved my godfather from a hoard of soul eating dementors, and then that stupid death tournament…oh, and then there was that whole trying to find the fragmented pieces of this girl's soul, and then…"

"Okay, I got it!" Yusuke said, "That's…I mean, that stuff really happened?"

"Yup." Harry said, "And I haven't even mentioned some of the other more serious shit I've been through. Now let's go. We have artifacts to recover."

They exited the school and made their way to the bus station. To Harry's dismay, he ended up paying Yusuke's bus fair. Though he suspected he had the money…

As they walked through uptown, Yusuke would grumble about 'rich snobs' and how they were supposed to find the criminals in such a mess.

It was true thought. The uptown area was pretty big. They both froze when they felt an intense and warped energy.

"Hello." Yusuke grumbled, "That feels a little awkward."

"It's a bit strange, isn't it?" Harry agreed.

A crowd of people had gathered not far off.

"Someone, call an ambulance!"

"It's a kid!"  
"What happened?"

"I don't know…he fainted!"  
Harry and Yusuke shared a look, then traveled through the crowd to find a boy with soulless eyes. Then, a strange white smoke traveled out of his mouth. His soul, Harry realized.

"That's what I like to call a lead." Yusuke said, then turned around and started running after it. Harry followed behind him. The orb of Baast, or whatever it was called, stole the souls of children, to Harry's recollection.

He doubted it was a coincidence either.

They turned down an alleyway where buildings seemed to be falling apart. Broken car parts were everywhere, and Harry had to step over a rotting plank of wood to get through.

There were shady people hanging around, some were drinking beer, most likely from the small pub not too far down the line.

There was a man to the far side who seemed to be gambling.

"Uptown became downtown really quick." Yusuke commented.

Harry's eyes, however were focused on a muscular looking man in a green t-shirt and jeans, sitting on a crate with his arms crossed over his chest. His energy was strange, and if he focused, he could see demon-like horns protruding from his head.

Yusuke finally noticed as well, it seemed.

"He's a monster!" Yusuke realized, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a…monocle?

"Um, off to the opera then?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up." Yusuke scowled, "It's a psychic eyeglass. It allows me to see through objects."

"Didn't know he was your type." Harry teased.

Yusuke blushed,

"Shut up, you and I both know he's got the orb."

Harry just smirked,

"I couldn't help it, you set me up so well."

Yusuke sneered, and lowered the eyeglass, putting it back in his pocket. But before they could go after the man…demon, a group of four guys approached them. One put a hand on Yusuke's shoulder.

"Hey buddy, you got some cash for me?"

Harry rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, this guy is soooo wealthy, that's why he had me pay for his bus fair."

Yusuke took the guy's hand off his shoulder,

"Sorry, minor league, I don't have time for you."

That's when his friends approached.

"That's the wrong answer."

"Well don't say I didn't give you guys fair…" he punched the guy in front of him in the face, "Warning!"

Harry just stood silently, avoiding notice as Yusuke beat up the four men.

"What you think you could have helped?" he asked Harry looking ticked off.

"You looked like you were having fun." Harry shrugged.

Yusuke scowled again,

"Seriously, what is with you? Are you gonna help me at all?"

Harry sighed, then closed his eyes. He wasn't sure if this would work in this world or not but…he opened his eyes and a bunch of ribbons appeared around him.

"What…is that?" Yusuke asked.

"Spirit ribbons." Harry explained, "I've got a good idea of what that guys energy feels like now. I can track it." He grabbed a purple colored ribbon, "Got it. He's this way."

He took off running and Yusuke followed after him.

"That seems like a pretty nifty little ability you have there." He commented.

Harry was silent, then he realized that they had run out of the town at this point and into the woods. It started to rain as the clouds overhead became dark and grim.

As they ran into the woods, Harry noticed there was a single patch, not far off where it wasn't raining.

"These guys don't seem too concerned with hiding their presence." Yusuke noted.

"No…" Harry said, "Be careful. These guys are stronger than you right now. There's three of them, all together. Your best bet will be to break one off from the group and fight him. Use your brain, think tactically. If you have too much trouble, I'll help you."

"You aren't going to help?" Yusuke asked Harry.

"I will…in my own way."

Yusuke snorted,

"Right."

"You coward!" a voice said from within the woods, towards the single patch where the rain wasn't falling, "Your years in the human world have made you just like them, spineless and weak!"

"A falling out?" Harry murmured just loud enough so Yusuke could hear, "This could work to our advantage."

"I don't give a flip if he leaves," another voice said, "But he's got no right to the loot. Give us the pretty little mirror."

"I can't." the one who seemed to be rebelling said, "I have great need for it myself first."

"Alright…then I'll punch it out of you!" he shouted, which was when Yusuke decided to make his appearance.

Harry huffed a little internally, what was with him and just walking off into danger. Sure, it's good to keep moving forwards, that's what he did, and without hesitation. But sometimes it's important to think a little bit first too.

"Excuse me, neighbours." Yusuke said, walking into the clearing and causing all of them to turn around, "Couldn't help but notice it's not raining over here. Maybe the next time you guys go stealing some magical toys, you should hide where it's not so obviously sunny."

Harry smacked a hand against his face,

"Great," he walked out into the clearing, "Give the bad guys advice, Yusuke, brilliant."

"Shut up, Harry." Yusuke rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" A short guy with spikey black hair demanded, his red eyes bore into Yusuke, "How do you know about the artifacts?"

"Give us your names." the big, muscular man from before ordered.

"Oh thank you, hoped you'd ask." Yusuke smirked, "The name's Yusuke, I'm a spirit detective."

The short one in the group looked over at Harry, this one was a demon,

"And who are you?"

"Harry." Harry lifted his hand in a wave, "I'm just tagging along, you might say." But his eyes traveled over to the boy, about their age…though he looked more like a girl (Not that Harry could talk according to a good handful of the guys at Fairy Tail, Karakura High and Sarayashiki Junior High) with red hair and vibrant green eyes that might have rivaled Harry's own.

But what caught Harry's attention was his expression. He looked sad and resigned. A lot like the way Rukia had looked when she had resolved herself to being executed at the Sokyoku.

Their eyes met a moment, but the red head turned away and started walking off into the forest.

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted, "Where are you going?"

"Sorry." He said, "I don't have time to be arrested."

"Stop, Kurama! You can't just walk out on our plan!" The smaller one said, then jumped into the air and disappeared in a flash.

"Yusuke, you take this guy." Harry said, "I'm going after them, okay?"

Yusuke rubbed his nose and smirked,

"Leave it to me."

Harry nodded,

"I'm counting on you." He then, shunpoed after the short one's energy, running off at top speed. He was fast, but he wasn't as fast as Harry.

He caught up with him and he summoned his sword. The guy parried Harry's attack.

"You're stronger than I thought you were…you were hiding your reiki it seems." The small guy said.

"Obey thy command." Harry said, sword still pressed up against his opponent's, "Gods of thunder come forth!" Lightning traveled through his blade and the demon let out a cry, he managed to jump back quickly, panting.

"You…are no ordinary human." He murmured.

Harry held out two fingers,

"Hadou no yon, Byakkurai!" the demon tried to get away, but he was far too weak now from Harry's previous attack to move in time.

"Bakudou no ichi, Sai!" the demon was bound, arms restrained behind his back and legs locked together.

Harry dismissed his sword, then hulled the demon upwards. Harry turned suddenly when he felt a familiar presence.

"Boton?" Harry wondered, he hulled the unconscious demon over his shoulder, then shunpoed back to where Yusuke was.

"Crap!" Harry cursed.

It seemed Yusuke couldn't handle it on his own after all. Boton was kneeling over Yusuke who looked horribly injured. Harry's eye, now used to picking up on injuries like that noticed that his shoulder was dislocated. His painful breathing indicated a broken rib or two.

"Boton!" Harry said, rushing over to them.

"Harry!" Boton shouted, but when he approached he was hit over the head.

"Ow." Harry said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Why did you leave Yusuke alone like that!?" she shouted, "He could have died if I hadn't shown up!"  
"Sorry." Harry grimaced, "We split up. I thought Yusuke could figure out how to beat him…" Harry looked down at him with a frown, "I should have paid more attention."

"Yes, you should have." Boton scolded.

"Just a minute." Harry said, summoning his wand into his hand, he began scanning Yusuke over, "Just as I thought, three broken ribs, a fractured arm and a dislocated shoulder."

"I know." Boton said, "I can heal it to an extent…"  
"If I had my things with me I could heal him." Harry said, he dumped the demon down.

"That's Hie!" Boton exclaimed, "You caught him?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded, "I still should have stayed here though…"

Boton looked Harry over a moment, then let out a sigh,

"You made a mistake…You aren't perfect, and you're going to continue making mistakes into the future, Harry. Everyone does, all we can do is learn from that and try our best not to repeat it."

Harry nodded,

"Alright…"

"Well," Boton said, cheering up, "I'll take Hie down to Spirit World prison. I'll let you handle Yusuke. I'll be coming over to your house to check him over, of course."

Harry smiled slightly,

"Alright." He picked Yusuke up and shunpoed away, through the trees, and back into the city.


	39. Chapter 39

**I wonder how many chapters this story is going to take…**

**I do not own Yu Yu Hakushou, Harry Potter or Fairy Tail. But as soon as I find a magic lamp, that's the first thing I'll wish for!**

Yusuke woke up back in his own bed.

"Wha?" he wondered, waking up, "What happened to the forest?" he shot up out of bed, "I'm in my room?" he wondered.

"Don't tell me that was all just a crazy dream…"

Just then his mother walked in and dropped a towel she'd been holding, letting out a small sound of surprise.

"Yusuke you're up! Are you alright?" she walked over to his bed.

"I think…" then he was promptly knocked over the head.

"Ow! Mother!" he shouted, rubbing where he'd been hit, "You don't just wallop an injured person."

"You looked like you'd been fighting with a wrestler." She said worriedly, tears were forming in her eyes, "You're going to get yourself killed." She then fell to her knees, sobbing into her hands.

Yusuke began to panic, not having seen her this upset since his own funeral,

"Ah! Don't do that, mother, it's okay!" he said, trying his best to reassure her, and he wasn't particularly good at that, "At least I think it is…" he murmured, then looking thoughtful, "Who was that voice…"

"Oh come on, you know." Boton and Harry entered the room, Harry just slightly behind Boton.

"Hello." Boton waved.

"Wow…so you two saved me?" Yusuke asked.

"Not me, that was all Boton." Harry admitted.

"This dummy went off on his own." Boton shot Harry a glare, "But he meant well, all things considered."

"That's right." Yusuke's mother added, "Harry was the one who carried you back, then he used this special medicine and healed you all up. I've gotta say, it was pretty amazing, even your bruises are gone…"

"Thank you, Urameshi-san. But it was my fault to begin with. It was the least I could do." Harry said giving a bow.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I don't know what happened, but you weren't the one who beat Yusuke up, so you aren't to blame." Yusuke's mother waved off.

Harry nodded, but he didn't really believe it.

"Anyways, I'll go make some tea. Yusuke, you're going to have to introduce me to your friends properly later, okay?" she walked out of the room, leaving the three of them alone.

"So people can see you now, Boton?" Yusuke asked.

"Hm? Oh yes, I told Koenma that I would make a much better assistant to the spirit detective if I had a human body."

"Makes sense I guess." Yusuke mused, "So how did you find us? Can you do that spirit ribbon thing that Harry can do as well?"

"Spirit ribbon thing?" Boton blinked, "No." she said pulling out a watch, "I just used this to track Goki's yoki." She handed it to Yusuke, "It indicates the distance and direction of an already identified demon."

"Huh." Yusuke said looking at the watch in his hand, "This will make finding them a lot easier, but I think the real problem comes from once they're in my face. Goki was a lot stronger than I thought."

Boton looked thoughtful,

"Harry might be able to train you."

Harry blinked,

"Train him?" he wondered, "I've never really taken on students before." He wasn't averse to the idea though. Already his mind was running through possible techniques that might work for Yusuke.

"_And now, some news on the spreading epidemic in Grey Corner."_ The announcer on the TV said from the other room. The door was open and they could see Yusuke's mother watching the news with interest.

"Grey Corner? That's not far from here at all." She noted.

"_Four children in this quiet foresting town have fallen comatose in he last three hours. Doctors are hesitant to pin a cause on their conditions, but they say it is unlike any disease they have encountered before."_

Yusuke, Boton and Harry were silent as the news continued.

"Sounds like Goki's having his lunch." Yusuke snarled.

"In the past he's taken souls much more slowly." Boton explained, "With the orb of Baast, he can take souls much easier. All he wants, really."  
Harry looked down at the ground, thinking on something,

"How long does it take for him to digest those souls? Is there still a change they could be in his stomach?"

Boton thoughtfully put a finger to her chin,

"It's possible." She nodded, "With these types of demons I'd say it would take a day at most."

"A day…" Harry thought, "That's not a lot of time…but…it might be enough to teach Yusuke something."  
"Teach me something? You mean, you're willing to show me how to fight?" Yusuke asked hopefully.

"Yes." Harry decided, "I'll teach what I can. I've noticed this already, but you already seem to have a pretty good connection to your reiki." He looked Yusuke in the eyes, "We don't have a lot of time for me to teach you the normal way, so, if you really want to do this, Yusuke, I'm going to teach you a technique that will take three hours to learn."

"Three hours?" Boton's eyes widened, "What could Yusuke possible be able to learn in three hours?"

"Normally, not a lot." Harry admitted, "I've only seen this particular method work once, and that was because the person learning truly wanted to learn." He turned back to Yusuke, "If you waver in your conviction to learn this…you could end up hurt badly, even killed."

Yusuke clenched his fists,

"If I don't though, then that demon, Goki will kill me anyways." He looked Harry in the eye, "Do it. I want to get stronger."

Harry nodded, then got up and closed the door. He summoned his wand into his hand and cast some silencing spells. The room glowed green a moment, then Harry put his wand away.

"Alright." He decided, he then walked up to Yusuke, then placed his wand up to his forehead.  
"What are you…" Yusuke stiffened, his eyes closed and his body became surrounded by an aura.

"What are you doing?" Boton asked Harry, alarmed.

"I told you, this method is extremely risky." Harry murmured, "Just be quiet. I need to concentrate."

"His reiki…it's getting stronger!" Boton gasped.

Harry didn't say anything, he then flicked his wand, and dismissed it in a swirl or words. Yusuke opened his eyes, shaking. He looked completely freaked out.

"What the hell was that!?" he demanded, "I was dead again! I think…" he looked back down at his hands.

"When the soul believes it's in danger, it's reiki increases." Harry explained, recalling what Urahara had done to train Ichigo, "That's why I don't like doing things like that. And I wouldn't have if I had even the slightest doubt you wouldn't have been able to handle it."

"But…I was a ghost, and you were chasing me…"

"Is that what you saw?" Harry hummed, "What I did was separate your soul from your body once again, leaving a single attachment, so still keeping you alive, unlike last time. Then I created the illusion of your soul being in danger."

"I see…" Boton said wide eyed, "But…if that hadn't worked then…"  
"His soul would have been destroyed." Harry nodded.

Boton shot him an angry look. Harry sighed,

"That was the dangerous part. And I knew he'd be able to do it." He defended.

"I can feel it." Yusuke said, looking down at his hand, "I'm a lot stronger…but you said it would take three hours. That couldn't have been more than a few minutes."

"That's because I haven't taught you anything yet." Harry explained, "And I will never, ever use that technique that I just used again, even if you beg me." He added, "It's too risky to use more than once, and I don't want you to believe that all power will come that easily. Now, the technique." Harry closed his eyes, thinking off all the spells, and all the crazy things he'd learned, "Close your eyes."

Yusuke closed his eyes quickly, not arguing, which was oddly out of character for him.

"Can you feel all your reiki running through you?" Harry asked.

Yusuke nodded,

"Yeah…"  
"I want you direct it towards your hand, then open your eyes." Harry ordered.

Yusuke held out his hand and opened his eyes, looking at Harry. Harry approached him and changed his hand position slightly.

"Repeat after me." Harry said, "Hadou no yon."

"Hadou no yon." Yusuke frowned, but then was surprise as yellow energy gathered at his finger tips.

"Byakurai!" Harry shouted.

"Byakurai!" Yusuke repeated, yellow-white lightning shot from his finger tips and hit the wall which glowed green a moment from the barrier Harry had put up.

Harry nodded approvingly,

"Good."

Boton looked on in surprise,

"What was that? I've never seen a technique like that before. And it was numbered too."

"That was a technique called kidou." Harry explained, "Kidou is numbered from one to ninety-nine. One being the weakest, and ninety-nine being the strongest. It's more powerful if you can say the entire incantation. I noticed that Yusuke was actually rather adept at concentrating his reiki at will, especially when he fights. It's normal for people who train in the art to concentrate their energy into certain areas when they attack or defend, but to Yusuke it's like an instinct, even though he hasn't really had any training to do it, he's doing it anyways. It's actually quite impressive. And that's what Kidou requires."

"So…you're going to teach him kidou?" Boton realized.

"Wait," Yusuke said, "If one is the weakest, and ninety-nine is the strongest, then why show me a weaker one, instead of one of the stronger ones?"

"You aren't strong enough yet to practice the higher-level spells." Harry explained, "Four is probably the maximum you can reach at this point. You're already drained, aren't you?"

Yusuke paused momentarily, then realized this was true.

"Even though your reiki has increased exponentially, you probably won't be able to do more than two or three level four kidou a day. Your reiki is already coming back though, isn't it?"

Yusuke nodded,

"Yeah, it is." He agreed, "I can feel it even clearer than before too."

"So then, you use these kidou spells to fight?" Boton asked curiously.

"Sometimes." Harry shrugged, "They aren't really a part of my main fighting style. They are useful though. Kidou has four separate subsets, Bakudou or 'way of binding,' Hadou or 'way of destruction,' Kaidou or healing, and finally barriers and seals." He listed factually, and orb of green energy appeared in his hand, "Kidou is particularly useful as it demonstrates different ways to concentrate this energy. I thought it would be a good place to start with Yusuke." Harry frowned, "But Kidou can be difficult, mostly because it involves learning chants. And if you say it wrong…it could very well blow up in your face."

"I see…" Boton said, still looking intrigued.

"Yusuke, can you focus your reiki, like this? Into an orb?" Harry asked him.

"Um…" Yusuke scrunched his face up in concentration, he managed to get a small looking white orb though.

"If you were to hit someone with that, you could do a whole ton of damage." Harry explained, "Now, you want to try another spell, Yusuke?"

Yusuke nodded, and Harry hadn't ever seen him so ready to learn before.

"Point your index forwards, yes, like that. Now repeat after me." Harry said, "Hadou no ichi. Shou."

"Hadou no ichi. Shou." Yusuke repeated, concentrating his reiki into his index. A white light shot out and banged against the wall, he smirked,

"Well, I seem to have a couple of techniques under my belt now…"

"I'm going to teach you two more." Harry said, "Then I'm going to have you repeat the spells I taught you from the beginning."

…..

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…..

Yusuke took some time memorizing the spells Harry taught him. Though he could easily repeat each one of them, he'd mess up sometimes, whether it was with the hand position or with the incantation. Still though, Harry hadn't thought he'd actually get the spells right off the bat like that…it was interesting to say the least…Seems he was a bit of a prodigy like Ichigo, and like Harry to an extent.

When Harry was satisfied, he called off the training. It had taken Yusuke about two hours for him to reach the point where he could properly cast the way Harry wanted him to. About the amount of time he'd been hoping for. Then he fed Yusuke a pepper up potion to help replenish his reiki, though it wasn't coming back as quick as he'd hoped.

It would have to do.

Yusuke used his new spirit detective watch to track down Goki. Harry and Boton followed after him as he fled from the apartment and down into the streets.

"But…will Yusuke be able to beat him this time?" Boton asked Harry as they trailed slightly behind Yusuke.

"I don't know." Harry admitted, "If he uses his head, he should be alright. That spirit gun thing he does…that can't be used too often as it seriously depletes his energy. While Kidou can be depleting, the techniques I taught him won't use too much reiki, unless he concentrates a lot into it. That's what I was trying to teach him with those lower level spells. Conservation."

"I see." Boton nodded, "I'm still mad at you though."

Harry nodded,

"I don't expect you to be happy about it, but I didn't know how else to train him."

"You could have gone after Goki instead." Boton argued.

"I'm not going to fight Yusuke's battles for him. It wouldn't be appreciated. Besides, this has become personal for him. Didn't you notice?"

Boton blinked a few times, then looked at Yusuke's back,

"You're right…but why?"

Harry shrugged.

"Even if it wasn't…I think it's important he do this himself. This is his first real fight in his new job. Yusuke's going to be great someday, too. I can tell. He has the drive, he has the instincts and the energy. He's not school smart, but he is still smart. He can think tactically and he's observant enough that he does pick up on things that people often miss. But he needs the experience."

"I see." Boton said, "You really are trying to help him."

….

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…

They got on the bus, somehow Yusuke managed to convince Harry to pay for his bus fair again…

They got off in Grey Corner, which actually wasn't too far from uptown. Their trek led them into the forest once again and Harry was pretty sure that it was the same one, just not quite near where they had entered the day before.

They walked down a dirt path that seemed to get plenty of use from the townspeople. It led to a shrine not far from the city, Harry recalled vaguely.

They were arrived just in time to see Goki suck the soul out of a little girl. Her eyes went blank and she fell over. Harry could practically feel the rage radiating off of Yusuke.

"Goki!" Yusuke said, hand in pocket, looking up at the demon with fire in his eyes, "I came all this way to see you."  
"Idiot!" the demon snarled, "Didn't you listen to what I told you yesterday?"

"Yeah of course I heard you. I'm just stupid." Harry sapped a hand to his face at Yusuke's comeback.

Boton sweat dropped, looking just as exasperated as Harry.

Goki began releasing his yoki, Harry felt the pressure build in the surrounding area. Goki laughed and his body began to glow with a white aura. His muscles grew until his shirt ripped, his hair grew into a long mane down his back. His teeth elongated and horns grew on his head.

Yusuke ran at him, and punched him in the stomach but the demon wasn't affected.

The demon laughed,

"For a detective you don't know much. My skin is as solid as rock. You can't hurt me."

"Yusuke, use your reiki, remember what I told you about focusing it then punching?" Harry called out to him.

Yusuke shouted back to him,

"Alright, I got it already!" he concentrated his reiki into an orb in his hand, then punched the orb forwards, the demon was actually pushed back a little bit, but Harry knew that Yusuke's reiki wasn't strong enough yet to penetrate the skin.

"Oh no." Boton murmured.

"He can still beat Goki." Harry said calmly, "Even with the little training I was able to give him, he has improved. But he's going to have to use his brain this time if he wants to win."

Boton turned from Harry, back to the fight,

"I sure hope you're right."

Then Goki came at him, punching. Yusuke dove to the side and the tree behind him broke in two. He stumbled out of the way, into a roll.

Part of the tree landed in front of him and Yusuke lifted it up,

"How about a big wooden stake!" he shouted, then thrust it at the monster, only for it to break apart.

"He's certainly a lot stronger." Harry said tilting his head to the side as he observed Yusuke.

"Don't you see it's pointless?" Goki smiled maliciously, then picked up the tree half, lifting Yusuke with it.

Then they were thrown. Harry wince a bit when he saw bruises appearing on him. Then Goki stomped up to him, grabbed him by the head and lifted him up.

"Now it's time to eat you!" his mouth opened wide, only for Yusuke to lodge a thick log into his mouth.

"Finally." Yusuke said, "I was hoping for you to open your mouth. That skin of yours might be as thick as rock, but I doubt your insides are." He held his finger out, "Spirit gun!"

The energy hit, and the monster fell to the ground with a loud 'thud!' Yusuke collapsed, falling to the ground with relief.

"Yusuke!" Boton called, then ran over to him.

Then the monster's body began to glow and disintegrate, a bunch of souls came out and flew off. Harry assumed they were returning to their bodies. Yusuke counted them as they flew away and Boton smiled knowingly.

"You saved them all, Yusuke."

"Good job." Harry said genuinely.

"Thanks." Yusuke sighed out, then picked up a round glowing ball that pulsed with green light, "I nearly lost my head trying to get that one artifact back. I'm scared to think what two more of them will take."

"One more." Boton said, "Harry recovered the sword, and captured Hie."

"Really?" Yusuke lit up a bit.

Harry nodded,

"Yeah, remember when we split up in the woods?"

"Oh yeah…You just sort of vanished in a blur too…could you teach me to do that?" Yusuke asked.

Harry shrugged,

"Maybe. I have a feeling kidou isn't exactly going to be your strong suit…But you were right to go straight for your spirit gun. Hadou one wouldn't have worked too well on that guy, though Hadou four might have worked, you didn't have enough energy left to really pull it off. But hey, that's what happens when you do training like that before fighting the bad guy."

"Still, you increased the strength of Yusuke's spirit gun." Boton pointed out, "I was actually quite impressed by that."

"Hey, I did the work, don't I get credit?" Yusuke crossed his arms childishly.

"Yes Yusuke, good job." Boton giggled.

Yusuke just huffed.


	40. Chapter 40

**Alright! Chapter forty! I'm finishing this off with a bang!**

**By the way, a friend of mine suggested I write an Animetopoeia starring a different character that wasn't Harry. Her suggestion was Lavender Brown in a bunch of Mahou Shojou anime and then, in the end she'll wind up with Harry. I don't know if you've read my other stories, but I've mentioned before that Otaku!Lavender is like, my most favourite interpretation of the character ever.**

**Another idea I've been toying with is Luna Lovegood in a Harem Animetopoeia. Like, Luna would be traveling across anime worlds building up a harem (all girls or all boys, still haven't decided). But…I worry that such an idea posted on the internet might make the world explode. Should I risk it?**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakushou or Fairy Tail**

As they walked into town, Yusuke had somewhere along the lines picked up a long stick in the forest and was now using it as a crutch.

"Yusuke, can't you just admit it would be easier to lean on my shoulder?" Boton asked, not impressed by the display.

Harry hadn't taken his bag with him, all his healing supplies were at Yusuke's house.

"Right, can't you admit that it would be embarrassing?" he shot back at Boton.

Harry let out a sigh of exasperation,

"Then why not let me help you?"

Yusuke's eye twitched,

"Because people still mistake you as a girl, and that would still be embarrassing!"  
Harry's eye twitched, he didn't look that much like a girl!

"Might I remind you, Yusuke that I'm the one in charge of healing you." He said with a creepy smile that actually caused both Yusuke and Boton to stop and shiver.

"Uh, you don't look that girly, Harry." Boton said quickly, "Yusuke's just an idiot. Besides, he's probably jealous, I mean, you get hit on by girls and guys so…"  
This was not the right thing to say apparently, as Harry only smiled wider, and the strange feeling of being a trapped animal increased inside the two of them.

"Boton, shut up." Yusuke hissed.

"Oh, um…I mean…" Boton stammered.

Suddenly the scary aura dropped and Harry tilted his head off to the side. Yusuke's watch began to beep and spin,

"Kurama." Yusuke realized, "He's nearby…but where?"

The long haired red head came walking through the crowd. He stopped momentarily as he passed the three of them. Harry just looked off to the side, unconcerned, but Yusuke and Boton were on full alert.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of fighting you. Nor do I intend to flee." Kurama spoke and Harry could detect a hint of sorrow in his voice, "In fact, I've come to ask you a favour." He said, then walked by them again.

"Are you crazy?" Yusuke wondered, turning around to watch the boy's retreating form.

"Give me three days. After that I will gladly return to you the forlorn hope." He said walking away.

"Interesting." Harry said, then walked on.

Yusuke and Boton quickly followed after him.

"What's interesting, Harry?" Boton asked, "Did you pick up on something?"

Harry shrugged,

"Kurama has a different agenda from the other two demons. And I'm not sure if you've noticed, but his energy is strange. Like it's half way between yoki and reiki."

"A hanyo?" Boton wondered.

"You mean…a half demon half human?" Yusuke asked thoughtfully, "So this Kurama guy is half human?"

"Seems so." Harry sang, walking off towards Yusuke's apartment, "And in the woods he was having an argument with those demons. He left them for some reason or other."

"But then, what could this 'other agenda' be?" Boton wondered, putting two fingers to her chin as though she were thinking hard on this.

"What does the forlorn hope do?" Harry asked her.

"It grants a person's wish but at the cost of something else. I don't know what that something else is though. Oh, and the mirror only can grant a wish on the night of a full moon."

"Then it's no coincidence that he asked for three more days." Harry said, "Three days is the night of the full moon. My guess is that this Kurama guy didn't want to team up with the demons to begin with, but when he heard of the forlorn hope, well, he needed it for something." He frowned, "It seems that it's something important too. Something he wouldn't mind giving up everything for."

Boton frowned,

"But what could this something be? And what could be worth all that?"

Harry shrugged,

"I doubt it's money. You have to give up something in return for this wish, right? Boton, why don't you ask Koenma what that is tomorrow. We have a couple of days to figure our Kurama's motive and what he's planning. As for you, Yusuke…" Harry looked over the detective, "I guess I'll have to patch you up again."

"What do you mean, 'you guess?'" Yusuke crossed his arms and looked away.

…

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….

Harry, as promised, healed Yusuke's wounds back at his apartment, then gathered his things and left for his own apartment.

Three days later, Yusuke tracked Kurama down to a hospital.

"I'm surprised you gave him his three days." Harry said looking at Yusuke curiously.

"I was thinking about what you said." Yusuke admitted, "That and…my gut tells me this Kurama guy isn't bad."

Harry nodded and Yusuke looked at Harry closely,

"You know, you could have tracked Kurama down whenever you wanted, what with your spirit ribbon trick. So why did you wait for my decision?"

Harry thought about this, then shrugged his shoulders,

"You're the spirit detective, I'm just assisting you." He said, "Besides, I figured it would be a good idea to go by your decision this time. I didn't sense anything bad about Kurama either and I've always considered myself rather adept at detecting deceit."

Yusuke raised an eyebrow at the reasoning,

"You know…you're a weird guy, Harry."

Harry snorted,

"So I've been told."

They paused once they'd made it to the hospital doors. Kurama was outside, waiting for them, it seemed.

"You came." He greeted them.

"Hello." Harry said waving a hand lazily.

"You're the one that defeated Hie, right? And you beat Goki." He said looking between Harry and Yusuke.

His eyes settled on Yusuke,

"You didn't seem as strong before, when I first met you. Your reiki is a lot stronger now."  
"That's because of Harry." Yusuke said pointed to the boy in question, "He did this weird technique thing on me that made my reiki increase, then he gave me some training."

"Oh?" Kurama asked, "I didn't even realize it before, but your reiki is nearly completely hidden." He said looking over Harry, "You must be strong to defeat Hie too."

Harry shrugged, but didn't say anything further on the matter, instead he opted to change the subject,

"So, what's going on? I'm curious as to what you'd choose to risk your life to save."

"So, you know what the mirror does, then." Kurama said calmly.

"We know." Harry nodded, "But we figure you have your reasons. I was hoping to persuade you not to do…whatever it is you're doing."

Kurama's face took on a look of deep sadness, and Harry knew that was likely not going to happen.

"Come with me and you'll understand." He turned and entered through the hospital doors.

Harry and Yusuke shared a look, then followed in after him.

They took the elevator up to the fifth floor and Kurama led them down the halls. He even said hi to a few nurses and doctors…so that meant he'd been there before.

He opened a door numbered five hundred and one and entered into a clean, private hospital room where a woman lay with her eyes closed, they opened up though as Kurama approached, though only into slits as though the light disturbed her.

"Hey there." She said gently, then sat up, struggling a bit with just that simple motion. But the smile remained on her face, as though she were very happy, "It's been a long time since you brought a friend with you. And two of them." She smiled at both Harry and Yusuke.

"It's alright, mother. You don't have to sit up." Kurama said with concern.

"It's not so bad, I'm feeling well today." She said, though Harry could tell she was lying, and if he could tell, he knew that Kurama would know as well.

"Can I maybe get you something to eat at least?" he offered her.

"Oh no, I'm not hungry Shuichi." She said.

"Have you eaten anything today?" he asked her with concern, "You haven't been eating much lately and I worry for you…"

"I had a later lunch today, but I'll eat later, I promise." She smiled up at him warmly, "Now why don't you introduce me to your friends. I'm sure they didn't come all this way to watch you dote on me."

Harry decided that it would be up to him to take the initiative, as Yusuke was still struggling over the fact that Kurama had just been called 'Shuichi.'

"My name is Harry Potter." Harry introduced, "This guy here is Yusuke. Don't let him scare you. He liked to pretend he's tough but he's really just a big softy." Harry whispered conspiratorially.

"Hey, I heard that!" Yusuke said.

Harry grinned,

"See what I mean?"

Thankfully, he earned a bit of laughter from the sick woman who seemed amused by their antics. Kurama smiled with a bit of relief, though whether it was due to his mother's good mood, or the fact that Harry and Yusuke chose to play along, Harry couldn't say.

"So how did you two meet, anyways?" she asked them curiously.

"We met on a hike through the woods." Harry answered without skipping a beat, "I moved here from England a while back, and I found out that Yusuke was running an errand for a friend in Grey point. I basically tagged along."

Yusuke and Kurama looked at Harry curiously as he told his version of the story.

"Shuichi was out there in the woods, he seemed kind of upset so we approached him. But he ran away for some reason…anyways, we saw him a bit later in town. He recognised us and apologised for his behaviour. Things just sort of took off from there."

"Really?" she asked looking at her son curiously, "Are you alright then? It must have been after…"

"Mother, it's fine now." Kurama said quickly, "Besides, I got two friends out of it, right?"

She nodded, actually looking rather relieved.

"Yes…I was worried." She said, "You always…you always seemed to have trouble making friends…"

"Mother…" Kurama said, trying to sound like any embarrassed teen at having his social life brought up in front of his friends, but his concern betrayed him.

Harry could sense the tension in the room, and smiled slightly, an idea coming to mind. He put a hand behind his back and summoned his wand into his hand. Kurama looked up at Harry abruptly.

"Shuichi, can I maybe show the two of you a magic trick…er, sorry I don't know what to call you Shuichi no okaa-san."

"You can just call me Shiori." The woman said warmly.

"Alright then, Shiori-san, would you like to see a magic trick?"

"Harry…" Kurama said cautiously.

"Don't worry." Harry gave him a wink; he took his wand from behind his back.

"Harry, I don't think…" Yusuke said, only for Harry to wave his wand,

"Wingardium Leviosa." Harry said, causing Yusuke to levitate into the air.

Shiori clapped her hands in amazement,

"That's incredible!"

"Alright, Harry. It's great and all, but would you put me down?" Yusuke glared.

Harry tapped his chin with one of his fingers,

"I don't know Yusuke…"

Kurama actually chuckled a bit. After a bit of arguing, Harry eventually set Yusuke down.

"Let's see…" Harry tapped his chin, then grabbed the empty glass at Shiori's bedside, "May I used this in my next trick? This was you'll know I've nothing up my sleeve."

"Go right ahead." Shiori decided, amused.

Harry then reached into his bag and pulled out a cloth. He put it over top of the empty cup, before first showing that it was a plain and ordinary kerchief. He then placed the cloth over the cup and tapped it with his wand,

"Avifors." He said, then pulled the cloth away, revealing a blue bird. Harry let it fly a circle around the room a few times while Shiori let out a giggle of surprise. The bird landed on his hand and he held it out to her,

"Don't tell the doctors." Harry said shifting his eyes around as though a doctor might walk in at any moment, "They're all out to get me."

Shiori laughed outright at this.

"Here, you can hold her if you'd like."

"Really?" she asked.

Harry passed her the small blue bird and she stroked the creature's feathers gently. After a while she handed him back, only for the bird to settle down on the table next to her. Harry waved his wand and right before their very eyes, the bird turned back into an empty glass.

Shiori clapped her hands,

"That was amazing!"

Harry gave a small bow,

"Why thank you very much, Shiori-san. Now why don't you get some rest? You look tired. Yusuke and I can come back tomorrow though if you'd like. I have a hole bag of tricks I can show." Harry said, patting his bag which was still slung over his shoulder carelessly.

"Please do, that would be wonderful." She said, letting out a small yawn.

"I'll drag Yusuke along too. Eh, he doesn't do anything special, but he'll be there."

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" Yusuke demanded.

Harry just laughed,

"It was very nice meeting you, Shiori-san. Hey, Shuichi, why don't you show us to the roof?"

"Oh, sure." Kurama said, looking between them and his mother, "I'll see you later, mother."

"I'll see you soon, Shuichi. You have some really interesting friends." She commented.

As soon as the door to his mother's room was closed, he turned to look at Harry,

"What sort of ability was that?" He asked curiously, "I've never seen anything like that before."

"Magic." Harry answered, a smile on his face.

Kurama raised an eyebrow, disbelieving, while Yusuke flat out said,

"Like hell it's magic."

Harry tilted his head to the side,

"So ghosts, demons, gods and Shinigami exist but not magic?"

"I do believe magic to be real." Kurama said cautiously, "The forlorn hope is magic. But to actually be harnessed by humans…"

Harry nodded,

"Yeah…That's a bit of a long story." He admitted, "But we aren't here for my story. We're here for yours. So, the roof then?"

…

000000000000000000000000000

…..

Up on the rooftop, the sun was setting. Kurama's eyes reflected the light, making his melancholy ever more apparent. He turned away from them, in deep thought. Neither Harry nor Yusuke wanted to interrupt the silence though. They waited.

"Shuichi is the name I've taken in my human form." Kurama said at last, "That woman is my mother…sort of. My father passed away years ago. For fifteen years she has brought me up…while I have deceived her." He looked down, and Harry wondered what could have happened to make him so sad.

"Sorry, I'm not following." Yusuke admitted.

"I was a Yoko, a fox demon…and I suppose, in a way I still am. I was a spirit fox that gained the powers of a demon over the hundreds of years that I've lived. Over time I became board, and started to learn the art of breaking codes and seals. Ancient treasures were my favourite sport." Kurama sounded a bit ashamed, yet wistful at the same time, "But fifteen years ago I made a careless mistake and was badly injured by a strong pursuer. With the last bit of energy, I had, I escaped to the living world and became the child of a proud, human family. I knew that if I could withstand humanity for ten years, my yoki would have time to safely recover. Then, I would escape without a trace."

"I take it something went wrong." Yusuke deduced.

"My mother fell ill…I know it might sound foolish, but I couldn't leave her." Kurama said, turning his head so that Harry could get just a glimpse of his bright green eyes.

"I don't think it's foolish." Harry said, looking up at the sunset, "Someone once told me, there is survival, and then there is living. Love, friendship, adventure, the things we experience and embrace in life, that's what it means to live. Well, it's tough to explain, really." Harry sighed, looking a bit sheepish, "But it's not something you should dismiss as foolish."

Kurama turned to Harry, blinking a few times, as though only just having seen him.

"Yes…I suppose so." He looked back out into the distance, "Hie was the one who tracked me down. I don't know how, but they needed my expertise. That's when I remembered the powers of the forlorn hope." He knelt down to the ground and removed a brick from the wall, then pulled out the mirror in question. He gazed into the glass longingly.

"Did you know? In some species a child eats its mother." He said softly, "I beg you, let me use the forlorn hope to save her."

"But…why would a monster want to save a human?" Yusuke asked confused.

"Yusuke," Harry said, "Things are rarely black and white like that…I mean…" Harry trailed off, thinking of Rukia and her execution. There had been some who had fought to have her executed, but in the end they had believed, truly that they had been upholding justice.

"So you don't think I'm a monster then, Harry?" Kurama asked curiously, "I did possess the dead body of my mother's unborn child…"

Harry just looked at him oddly,

"I don't know what Shiori-san would think of you, Kurama-san. I never had parents, nor even a parental figure who I might be able to compare her feelings to." Harry admitted, "But I've met a monster before, and you are not a monster." And image of Voldemort flashed in his head.

Kurama stared at Harry a long while,

"I've caused her great pains…it's hard raising a child who thinks you're inferior." And Harry could hear his voice break for just a moment.  
"That…I can understand." Harry said softly, "I grew up in a society that believed other humans to be inferior." Harry admitted, "We're an isolated society…and we age slower than others. One of the oldest of my kind, that I know of is six hundred years old."

"Whoa, six hundred!?" Yusuke exclaimed.

Harry nodded,

"Sometimes…we end up being born to mundanes though. My mother was one of these people. When my parents died, I grew up with my aunt who knew what I was and hated me for it."

Kurama looked Harry over to see if he was lying,

"I see…maybe you can relate then."

"Not quite." Harry sighed, "I never believed myself to be superior or anything…But I know others did. Sometimes…I could see it in some of the people I hung out with. At one point I nearly got dragged into it…I hated my relatives, but that didn't mean that all mundanes were that bad. I only bring it up because…I've seen it. I can't quite relate, but I can understand."

Kurama nodded,

"So how old are you then…really?"

Harry smiled,

"That's a secret."

"Oh man," Yusuke groaned, "All this time I knew you seemed to know way too much for a fourteen-year-old. At least now I don't have to feel so bad."

Harry chuckled,

"No, I guess not. I'm sorry, Kurama. That was rude of me to interrupt. Please continue." He sobered.

"Well…to be honest I feel like maybe I broke her spirit…that maybe I am one of those mother devouring creatures. That maybe…I caused her disease." Kurama admitted.

Harry shook his head,

"I don't think so." He said, "I may not know a whole lot about your mother. I think…I think it would hurt a parent to know that their child didn't love them. I know it would hurt a child if their parents told them they were hated…but, that's why I don't think you should blame yourself for this. Because you are willing to give up your life for hers. And if Shiori-san is really the caring mother you believe her to be, then she would give up her life for yours as well. That's what it means to love someone." Harry said, "And I think, that if she can love you, and knows from the bottom of her heart that you love her too, then it would all be worth it. That's why I don't think you can blame yourself for this. Humans can be very fragile creatures." Harry said with a bitter smile, "They get sick…"

Kurama looked down,

"I…I still…"  
"Can't stop blaming yourself." Harry finished for him, "I know…and that's a part of what it means to live too, Kurama-san."

"What about his mother, though?" Yusuke asked with a raised eyebrow, "Can you cure her? You're really good with healing and stuff."

Harry looked thoughtful,

"I might be able to keep her alive, prolong her life a while longer. But I'd have to do some research on her disease and that could take anywhere from a week to a year. I'd need access to her chart as well." His jaw moved into a firm line, "If I can help though, I'll do it."  
Kurama looked at Harry wide eyed,

"You'd help me? Just like that?"

Harry nodded, smiling softly,

"If someone needs help and you can do something about it…then why wouldn't you help them?"

Kurama blinked a few times, then shook his head and returned the smile,

"You know, you're a very strange human, Harry…I mean, if you are human."

"I'm human." Harry confirmed, "I just happen to be…"

The door opened on the roof and a nurse appeared, looking panicked, then her eyes landed on Kurama,

"Shuichi, it's your mother."

Kurama's eyes widened and he ran after her. Yusuke was about to follow, when Harry stopped him.

"Don't." Harry said, "Just…just wait. They don't allow anyone other than family to talk about the patient's case anyways."  
Yusuke took a step back, but he looked like he was itching to do something.

They waited up there a while. The moon was full and out, and the sun had set, revealing more stars in the sky than Harry had seen back in Karakura.

The door to the roof opened once again, and Kurama walked to the middle of the roof, hands clutching the mirror.

"Forlorn hope, I beg you to hear my desire so that you can make it true…" he murmured.

"No, Kurama!" Harry shouted.

But the mirror had activated, black tendrils swirled around the glass's surface. Harry and Yusuke back away from the energy, shielding their eyes with raised arms.

"The happiness of this woman. Is that what you desire?" A deep voice came from the mirror.

"It is." Kurama said.

"Hey!" Yusuke shouted, "Can't you hold on a second so we can work things out!? I mean there's gotta be some other way to do this!"

"No…" Kurama said resignedly, "There is not."

"To grant this wish, you must give your life. Is that what you desire?" the mirror asked once more.

"If that will save my mother's life, then yes, I do." Kurama said with such conviction that Harry knew there was no way to persuade him otherwise.

But still, he had to try.

"Then your desire shall be fulfilled." The glass of the mirror turned black, like it was now reflecting a void. The promise of oblivion in the afterlife ahead.

Electricity now encompassed him, crackling against the red head boy's skin, and Harry knew that he was too late.

But still, he had to try…didn't he always.

"No!" Both Harry and Yusuke said at the same time. Both of them reached out their hands and rushed towards the mirror.

Yusuke got there first.

"Hey mirror guy, can you hear me? I want you to take my life instead!" he shouted, "That way Kurama can live and he can still get his wish, isn't that right?"

"This doesn't make sense, it's my wish!" Kurama shouted back at him.

"Yeah well, it doesn't make sense rescuing your mom only so she can spend the rest of her life mourning the death of her son!" He turned to Kurama, "I've seen that before and I don't want to see it again."  
Harry put his own hand against the mirror,

"Please spare them." Harry said quietly, "Take my life instead…Because both of them have a mother to mourn them…I have no one…no one…" Then an image flashed through Harry's eyes of a man with long, tangled hair, a bit skinny with a handsome face but sunken slightly from pour health, "Sirius…"

"Your desire shall be fulfilled!" The mirror announced and Harry closed his eyes as light erupted from the glass.

Harry was pretty sure he fell unconscious for a while, though he fully expected to open his eyes to a black abyss. Only, he was on the roof of the hospital.

Kurama wasn't there, but Yusuke was, and he was standing over him,

"Wanna tell me what that crap was?"

He grabbed Harry by the collar and pulled him to his feet. Harry glared at him angrily,

"You tried to sacrifice yourself too, you idiot. And you have a mother who would mourn you. And right after you came back from death!"

Yusuke returned the glare,

"You have people too!" he shouted, "Everyone has someone. Before I died the first time I thought I had no one too. But there are people who would mourn you. So, don't start spouting crap like that!"  
Harry looked away, something in his words had hit him hard.

"I…Yusuke, my parents died when I was one. I grew up with people who constantly reminded me that everyone would have been better off if I had died with them. I made friends at school, but then found out that their friendship was conditional. One of them even told me I could just go die once!" and image of an angry red head flashed through his mind.

Yusuke listened to the rant patiently,

"I don't want you to die."

Harry's head jolted as he looked up at the self-proclaimed punk. Yusuke scratched the back of his head,

"Dammit, I'm not good at this stuff!" he exclaimed, "But…you didn't deserve that shit. Actually, after that rant, I'm kind of amazed you managed to stay together as well as you did. I sure as hell didn't and despite my mother not being the best role model, she does love me." He sighed, "You are probably one of the nicest guys I know. You've made mistakes, but I know you've always had the best interests of everyone around you at heart. So, I'll say it again. You didn't deserve that shit. You never deserved that shit. And you don't deserve it now."

Harry shook slightly and looked away, but Yusuke continued,

"You've got a big heart, Harry. You're far more forgiving than some people deserve. I would miss you. And I know that, with such a big heart, and with all the things you've probably done for others, like Kurama, I bet there are a ton of people out there who would genuinely miss you too."

Harry's eyes widened, and several things went through his mind all at once. Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Erza, Grey, all the people at Fairy Tail. Then Ichigo, Uryu, Orihime, Chad, Rukia, Hitsugaya, and Rangiku…The Baron, Haru, Muta, Toto…but out of all those people, his mind, surprisingly settled on one person.

"Sirius…" Harry whispered involuntarily.

"Serious?" Yusuke frowned.

"No, Sirius Black…he's my godfather…I…you're right." Harry said, "Maybe I do have people…"

And he smiled slightly, feeling tears tumble down his face. He wasn't just surviving anymore. Somewhere along the way…he had started to live. And even though he was smiling, tears fell down his face as emotions filled his chest in a way they never had before.

Yusuke scratched the back of his head,

"And if you ever make me say something like that again…" he warned, but couldn't finish, he turned away awkwardly and Harry laughed through his tears.

He could keep living his life. Not surviving anymore. Because no matter what, he would live.


	41. Chapter 41

**Hello again. I've still only posted about half of this story (I mean, of the stuff I've written so far, it's not yet complete). I hope you're all still enjoying the story. A lot of people have been commenting about my previous author's note, specifically the idea of Luna having an Animetopoeia adventure of her own (and her own harem). I've decided to start writing this idea out. I've picked out a few harems that I thought would be good, but the story probably won't be posted until after January first sometime.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakushou, or Fairy Tail**

The next day, during lunch, Harry made a bento box for three and gave one to Yusuke and one to Boton, keeping the third for himself.

"Wow, Harry." Boton said, taking a bite, "This is delicious!"

"So what's this for?" Yusuke asked, taking a bite from his lunch. It seemed that he approved of the meal as well, "I gotta know so I can do it again next time."  
Harry chuckled,

"Mostly just a thank you to he two of you. I know I have problems, and sometimes I act badly during a crisis. But it's nice to know I have people who will keep me in line."

Yusuke laughed,

"And here I'm the one people normally need to keep in line."

"That's nothing to brag about." Boton scolded lightly, but there was a hint of teasing behind her voice.

"So, Boton. What's with the school uniform?" Yusuke asked looking her over strangely, "Do all spirit detective assistants have those, or do you just like the little navy girl look?"

Boton hummed,

"Well, thought I'd fit the part if I'm going to follow you around school all day." She took a bite of rice, then another bite of one of the egg rolls, "Wow, these are really good." She complimented again.

"I'm glad you enjoy it." Harry smiled.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Boton said.

"What?" Yusuke asked wearily, when Boton 'almost forgot' something it usually was something important that would have been great to know a day before.

"About Kurama." Boton elaborated with a smile on her face, "His case was reviewed by the punishment board. Koenma has decided to release him on good behaviour."

"That's great!" Yusuke said.

"I was pretty worried about that." Harry admitted, "I was going to ask you if you needed a character witness for his case. But I guess that's unnecessary now."

Boton giggled, covering her mouth,

"Yes, it's great, isn't it? Kurama's going to be going free now."

The door to the roof opened and Keiko stepped out. She looked around, though Harry, Boton and Yusuke were sitting in the shade just behind her. She turned then saw them a bit surprised,

"There you are, Yusuke." She said, "Takanaka-sensei is looking for you. You're the only one who hasn't handed in their book report."

"Geez, that makes sense, cause I'm the only one fighting evil." He huffed.

Then Keiko noticed Boton and Harry and their lunches.

"Who made those? I know that you didn't…Yusuke didn't bully one of you into making these, did he?" she shot a glare at Yusuke.  
"Why do you think I'd do that?" Yusuke huffed.

"I made them." Harry smiled, "Yusuke and Boton helped me out a few days ago. I felt I had to do something as a thank you."

"Really?" Keiko wondered, "What did he do?"

Harry shifted,

"It's a bit embarrassing…I was really upset at the time and did some pretty stupid stuff. But Yusuke and Boton brought me back to my senses. I don't mean to be rude, but, I'd rather not say anything more on the matter."  
Yusuke scratched the back of his head,

"It was no big deal." He said, "You just needed a reminder that there were other people out there who were your friends."

Harry nodded, still grateful. Keiko looked a bit curious, but didn't pry, thankfully. Her gaze turned over to Boton,

"And who's this?"

Boton got up and moved to wards Keiko, grabbing her hands,

"Keiko-san it's so nice to meet you in my own body. I just wanted to say how great a person you are. When I saw you making your way through those flames to save Yusuke, I just about melted in my shoes." She blabbered.

Harry's hand met his face and Yusuke's eyebrow twitched.

"Do I…know you?" Keiko wondered.

"I hope you don't mind me saying, but with his spirit energy…" Boton was cut off when Yusuke nocked her over the head and pulled her aside.

"Wha! What was that for?" she hissed.

"Keiko doesn't know anything about you or spirit world. Play it cool, okay." Yusuke said in a hushed voice.

"Oh that's right." Boton realized, "But if you ask me, things are about to get complicated if you don't tell her soon." She quickly wrapped up the empty lunchbox and handed it back to Harry.

"Thank you, Harry. I'll see you after school." She waved.

Keiko looked at her over her shoulder as she left.

"Tell me what soon?" she asked.

"Damn…" Yusuke growled, "She just had to bring you in on this, didn't she…"?

Harry rolled his eyes,

"It's not like it's a big deal, Yusuke." Harry smirked, "Or are you just scared of Keiko knowing you've finally decided to take on some responsibility for a change."

"What?" Keiko asked bewildered.

Harry smirked,

"You see, Keiko…" His mouth was promptly covered by Yusuke's hand.

"I swear, one minute you're helpful and the next you're pure evil." He said looking panicked.

Keiko raised an eyebrow,  
"What does he mean, you took responsibility?"

"Uh, nothing!" Yusuke said quickly, then he quickly drew away his hand, "Ew, Harry that's so gross!"

Harry rolled his eyes again,

"Serves you right. I don't want to lick your hand again, thank you. And why does it smell like cheese?"

"How the hell should I know?" Yusuke sneered.

"It's your hand." Harry pointed out dully.

Realizing she wasn't going to get anything out of Yusuke she turned away,

"Well, I just wanted to tell you about the book report so you don't get into trouble." She turned to leave.

"Wait, Keiko stop. I wanna talk to you." He said in an almost growl.

Keiko did stop though and partially turn around,

"You do?"

Yusuke looked off to the side,

"How'd you like to…do my homework?"

Harry clipped him over the back of the head,

"Idiot. Keiko, ignore him. Yusuke, if I hear you talking like that again, you won't be getting any more bento lunches out of me."

Yusuke pouted,

"But we're gonna be busy and…"  
Harry smiled, and Yusuke shivered,

"U-um, I mean…I'll have the book report handed in by tomorrow…in fact I'll do it now. See you, Keiko." He ran out of there, hightailing it down the stares and Keiko's jaw dropped slightly.

Harry tilted his head,

"That was odd, it's almost like he saw a ghost or something."

Keiko just looked at Harry incredulously,

"You have to teach me how to do that." She said.

Harry blinked a few times,  
"Do what?"

...

00000000000000000000000000000

...

On Saturday Harry and Yusuke were climbing up one of the tallest flights of stares Harry had every seen.

It was a stone stairway that lead up to a temple that seemed to be emitting a high concentration of purifying energy.

Yusuke was huffing and puffing, though not due to fatigue, mainly do to anger.

"Oh, stop it, Yusuke." Harry rolled his eyes, "I know it's a three-day weekend and all, but this is pretty important."

Yusuke snorted unattractively,

"I can't believe Boton suckered me into this."

"Here we go…" Harry sighed.

It had started only yesterday. Boton had explained to them that they had a new mission. Infiltrate a gathering of students who wanted to become apprenticed to Genkai. Of course, only one could actually be her apprentice. Genkai was one of the most renown psychics in the world and she was holding a competition to find the best student to take on at her temple. Apparently, she had some sort of secret power that was coveted by many. And that meant both humans and demons.

Rando, a demon who disguised himself as a human made a hobby of finding human masters to apprentice himself to, then slaughtered his teacher after learning their techniques.

Koenma seemed to think that Rando was going to be at Genkai's competition and it was up to Yusuke and Harry to stop him.

"I don't get what you're complaining about Yusuke." Harry said, "I'm not the one getting a ticket to a battle match at the Tokyo dome all expenses paid for by spirit world. Actually, I'd say you're getting more out of this than you put in. Not only do you get a teacher, but you also get to see one of those fighting things you keep going on about."

"It's a mixed martial arts tournament." Yusuke corrected, "And you're a martial artist yourself, why aren't you more into that stuff."

Harry shot him a dull look,

"After seeing Yoruichi fight, my old teacher, that stuff on television just doesn't compare."

Yusuke paused,

"Your teacher?" he wondered, and Harry had a feeling he was imagining some sort of muscular, beefed up guy in chainmail or something. He wasn't about to correct him, finding it rather amusing.

"Yes, Yoruichi Shihoen." Harry nodded, "That was my teacher's name…at least one of them. I travel a lot, so I've sort of been going from teacher to teacher. Getting my education where I can. Yoruichi though probably made the most impact on me. I already had a fighting style when I found her. But as soon as I started training under her, I got faster and stronger right off."

"Huh, you know, I haven't heard you talk much about the past, Harry." Yusuke said.

"I don't hear you talk much about yours either." Harry pointed out.

They both paused, Harry stopping right behind Yusuke who was staring at the strong energy that acted almost as a gateway between two tresses tied with rope around them and overhead.

"Okay…" Yusuke said, "Well, once I don't get chosen I'll pretend it doesn't exist." He pulled at the bag over his shoulder and continued walking up the stairs.

"If you do get chosen, you get free training." Harry pointed out.

"I have you for that." Yusuke said lazily.

Harry sighed,

"Not all my techniques will work for you though, Yusuke." Harry said calmly, "And I think that this master might be better able to help you advance your own unique abilities."

Yusuke just rolled his eyes and turned away,

"You sound like Keiko, always nagging me." He mumbled.

They reached the top to see a large crowd of fighters gathered around, all dressed in some sort of battle outfit, and all looking very competitive. Though many of them were rather…eccentric-looking, as summed up by Yusuke's comment of,

"Haven't seen this many freaks since that comic book convention."

"See, so many people have gathered here just from word of mouth. Most of these fools don't even know Genkai." Someone commented from the crowd.

"Even dogs can smell something good." Another fighter said, obviously sharing the sentiment.

"Urameshi!" someone called behind them.

They both turned and Yusuke let out a gasp when he saw Kuwabara approaching. The redhead noticed Harry's presence and grinned,

"Hey, Harry. Nice to see you here. Oh, uh, thanks for helping me again with my math." He said quickly.

"No problem." Harry nodded, he'd been helping Kuwabara after school in his free time.

"Uh…but what are you two doing here?"

"We've got good reasons." Yusuke said, "Unlike some people."

"You think I don't?" Kuwabara said, then crossed his arms, "Okay, I'll tell ya. It seems my power to see ghosts and spooky stuff has gone up greatly in the past few weeks and it's getting to the point where I can't even concentrate on my fighting, you know? Then I heard that Master Genkai can fix up the symptoms, so I came here to pay her a visit. But look at this line!" he said looking around at all the people there.

Yusuke looked at him doubtfully,

"Hey, now look. I know you need therapy. But are you sure this lady's into that?"

"Yusuke, don't be mean." Harry scolded.

"Nah, it's alright, Harry." Kuwabara said, "And don't be such an ignoramus, Urameshi!" He poked his finger up against Yusuke's nose, "Master Genkai is hugely famous and happens to be master of the great spirit wave technique! She can do anything to a person's spirit, and that includes turning the volume way down on mine."

Yusuke looked away,

"Uh…right, spirit wave." He looked off to the side, trying to pretend he knew what Kuwabara was talking about.

"You weren't listening to Boton, were you." Harry said unamused, he let out a sigh. Oh well, it wasn't like he was the one going in ill informed.

Kuwabara grabbed Yusuke by the collar and yelled,

"This isn't school, so don't pretend that you're not a doofus!"

Yusuke just grinned.

The sound of a drum quieted the crowd.

"Quiet everyone."

"Genkai must be coming…"  
The murmurs of warning quieted and the doors to the temple slowly slid open.

"My, my…quite a crowd." A raspy female voice echoed around them, yet Harry knew instinctively that the origin was from that entryway.

An old woman in a red dress with a long white sleeved shirt underneath and green pants, tied with a darker green belt around her waist, came walking out of the temple. She wore a strange-looking black hat on her head.

"That little old hag is Genkai?" Yusuke asked skeptically.

But Harry could feel a steady and trained amount of reiki radiating off of her.

"Alright then, I suppose we should get things started." The old lady said.

Some of the people began murmuring nervously about how difficult the tests were likely to be.

"The first of your screening tests will be…" The crowd all waited in anticipation, "The drawing of lots."  
Several people fell over, and Harry looked around wondering what was wrong.

"You don't find anything wrong with that, Harry?" Yusuke's eyebrow twitched.

"Should I?" Harry wondered.

"I have a feeling I shouldn't comment." Kuwabara muttered under his breath.

"Everyone must draw a lot from this old jar." Genkai said pointing to the jar by her side, "Come now, we haven't all day." She said in a 'chop chop' sort of way.

"Figures, the old lady's up and gone senile." Yusuke mumbled.

"I doubt she'd chance something like that on lots, Yusuke." Harry rolled his eyes, "The paper inside is likely a sort of…reiki litmus paper. Changing color for those with a certain amount of reiki…probably."

Yusuke blinked, then looked at Harry a bit impressed by the deduction,

"So…that's why you weren't surprised?"

Harry shrugged,

"Why would I be surprised? It's a clever way to separate those with real reiki power and those without." Harry shrugged, "Although, my power isn't actually reiki…I wonder if it will even work." He hummed.

"I guess we'll find out." Yusuke said.

They all began to form a line. Harry was not so happy when a man standing behind him began to mouth off,

"What's a girl like this gonna do against all us fighters." He sneered.

Yusuke froze, when Harry turned around, smiling.

"I'm sorry…did you say something?"

The man's eyes went comically wide,

"N-no…nothing at all!" he squeaked.

"Oh?" Harry wondered, "Pardon me then, it appears that I'm hearing things." He turned back to Yusuke who seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

Kuwabara drew his lot first, Yusuke went second…then Harry.

Once everyone had a lot, Genkai came up on her higher platform, walking forwards,

"You did that fairly well…I'm impressed."

Harry could tell that she really wasn't.

"Let's all open our lots now. If the paper inside it is red, then congratulations. You have passed the first of today's screenings."

No one wasted any time. Yusuke and Kuwabara opened up their papers and Yusuke let out a cry of shock.

"Well lucky me, I won." Both said at the same time.

Harry just raised an eyebrow and opened up his own envelope. The paper inside it had turned green, and now it was fading into a strange, dark red.

"Well, I guess I'm still in." Harry said, holding up the now red paper.

"Those who won, please follow me." Genkai said turning around, "Those who lost, please get lost."

Harry's lips twitched into a smile. She certainly had a way with words.

"Hold on!" Two very large men approached Genkai angrily.

Genkai turned around bored, the simple gesture saying something along the lines of 'I have no time for idiots.'

"We are two of the most powerful fighters among the Kyushu mountain people." One of them declared.

"We've come all this way because we heard you could make us greater. You can't turn us away with a piece of paper!" the other one growled.

"Do you not see how big we are? You have to give us a fair shot!"  
Genkai cleared out her ear with her index finger, not amused by the display,

"The only difference with larger fighters is that they're louder when they whine." She glared up at them, "Can't you blockheads understand I'm just trying to save you from embarrassment!"  
Both the men started to growl, obviously misinterpreting what she was trying to get at.

"This probably is beyond your comprehension, but if you're really ready for my training then why didn't your paper turn red?" she said.

"See." Harry shrugged looking at Yusuke.

But neither Yusuke nor Kuwabara were paying him any mind anymore. Their eyes, like everyone else's were on Genkai and the two mountain warriors.

The two thugs lunged at her, only for Genkai to release her reiki, sending them both flying back, knocked out.

"W-what…what was that!?" Kuwabara cried.

"That was just Genkai's release." Harry said.

"Release?" Yusuke asked Harry who simply nodded.

"She released her reiki energy. It wasn't an attack, and I doubt that was all her power either." Harry hummed, looking rather thoughtful.

"Okay, now I'm interested." Yusuke said, looking back up at Genkai, "You're saying that's not an attack?"

Harry shook his head,

"It wasn't. The more you train your reiki, the more it's going to be able to affect those around you, or the more people will feel it, so to say. You have that ability as well, Yusuke, but right now, if you were to release your reiki, it would be like…throwing a bucket of water at whoever's nearby. It might make them cold, but that's about it. Master Genkai though…she's got an ocean behind her."

"So, you're saying I've got a bucket and she's got an ocean." Yusuke summed up, "Can I get more…water?"

"Yes." Harry said, "But you'd have to train your reserves. I've deepened them a little from what they were like before, but that's about the extent you can do without proper training." He shot Yusuke a look, "And I know for a fact that you haven't been doing any of the exercises I've given you."

"What?" Kuwabara asked looking at Harry, "Are you saying you've been teaching Yusuke to do stuff like that? Why don't you teach me?"

"You want me to teach you?" Harry asked him, "I was only helping Yusuke because he's been fighting demons in his spare time. He's not a very good student though. If you want, I'll teach you. Yusuke kinda sucks anyway."  
"Hey!" Yusuke protested.

Harry shrugged,

"It's true."

"Alright you red papers," Genkai announced, "Please follow me." She began walking down the wooden walkway and everyone there quickly followed after her, suddenly a lot more eager to become her apprentice.

Yusuke rolled up his sleeve and checked his demon compass watch. Only it began blinking and going crazy, spinning around and around until it exploded.

"Geez, so much for trusty." Yusuke said, looking down at the watch.

Kuwabara turned around,

"Looks like you bought a crappy watch." He commented.

"Don't worry, Yusuke." Harry said slowly, "I can tell who Rando is with my spirit ribbon technique." He smiled slightly, "Did you know? A demon's spirit ribbon is purple. A human's is white, and a wizard or sorcerers is green. Oh, and a Shinigami's spirit ribbon is red." Harry had checked it out, and Boton's ribbon actually was red, just like the ones in Ichigo's world.

"Really?" Yusuke asked, "What about a ghosts?"

"Still white if they're a human spirit. Only difference being that they feel a bit different." Harry added.

"Spirit ribbons?" Kuwabara asked curiously.

"It's a special technique that's used to track people down." Harry explained, "However, in order to track a person, I have to have felt their reiki or yoki first. It will work though if I'm just trying to discern whether or not a person is human though." He added at Yusuke's sceptical look.

"So you can tell who it is?" Yusuke asked him.

"Well, I'm going to wait a while to do it, but yes." Harry confirmed.


	42. Chapter 42

**I do not own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail or Yu Yu Hakushou**

"This is not a normal house." Yusuke said, staring at a line of video games.

The room was full of them, like an arcade, only it was probably the biggest arcade Harry had ever seen.

"Maybe she just likes video games…" Kuwabara suggested.

"Probably, but I doubt that's why we're here." Harry said dully.

Genkai came swinging in on a strange basket like platform hanging from the ceiling.

"I hope you all brought your quarters. These games will be your second screening."

"Please master." A boy with a black hat and monk's robes stepped forwards, "May I ask what playing video games has to do with great power?"

"Absolutely nothing, really. But these are not ordinary games that you will be playing." She said, "The janken game tests your spirit awareness. The punching game shows your spirit's strength. And the karaoke shows your spirit's ability to adapt and grow stronger." Genkai explained.

Harry smiled slightly,

"What a fun way to test our abilities. Almost sounds as fun as playing tag with Yoruichi."

"Tag?" Yusuke raised an eyebrow.

"Speed training." Harry elaborated.

"If you cannot pass two out of three then go home quickly and do not play the other games, they're just for me." Genkai dismissed.

"Alright, hand me that boxing glove." One of the taller and more muscular men said, putting on the game's standard glove, "Me and this game are old buddies." He grinned, putting the glove on and working himself up to the punch.

With a grunt, he swung his arm at the rubber ball, which hit the machine. Eighteen points flashed on the screen causing a few people to snicker.

"That doesn't make any sense, I always get the high score on this game in my parent's pool house." He said looking disbelieving as the words 'Fail' flashed over the screen.

"Well this isn't your parents' pool house." Genkai sneered, "It doesn't make any difference to that machine how physically strong you are unless your reiki goes along with it."

Kuwabara took the glove next and let out a battle cry as he punched the rubber ball. He got one hundred and twenty-nine points.

"One hundred and twenty-nine! What do you think about that, Urameshi?" he said boastfully.

Yusuke smirked,

"Don't get too excited, I think there's something wrong with the machine. Here, I'll check it out for you." He took one of the gloved, then punched forwards, the ball hit and the machine flashed with a score of one ninety-two.

"No, I guess it works fine." He said smugly.

Harry rolled his eyes and took the glove in hand. He'd have to tune down his power if he wanted to remain undercover. He took the glove and a couple of people snickered.

"Is that a girl?"

"What's pretty boy gonna do?"

Harry's lips twitched, and he punched forwards, scoring exactly two hundred and ten points. It was a bit more than he'd hoped for…

"No way!" some of them shouted.

Harry took the glove off and tossed it over his shoulder, then moved on to the Karaoke machine. He managed to get three hundred points. He tried not putting too much of his energy into it but apparently it was a lot more difficult than simply exhuming his magic into a force. He got the high score and several people had gathered to listen to him. Harry was a bit surprised by how entranced they seemed.

He got off stage only to be greeted by Kuwabara,

"Wow, Harry. I didn't know you could sing like that." He said.

Harry just shrugged,

"I haven't exactly sung in front of a large group of people or anything before." He admitted, and it was true. He actually hadn't known he would be any good. Well, you learn something new every day.

He didn't bother with the janken machine. He'd already passed two out of three, and those that had done it hadn't really bothered sticking around to play their third game either.

Once they had all passed at least two games, Genkai led them outside into a dark looking forest surrounded by menacing reiki which seemed to be held back by some sort of barrier.

"Now that the week have been eliminated, the tests will be far more severe." Genkai said, turning to stare them all down.

"Hey, my insides feel all funny." Someone said.

"Master, the forest seems to have its own life force." The monk kid from before commented warily.

"Yes." Genkai said calmly, "To say the least. It's known as the dark forest, and it's as old as the human race."

Harry looked up at the trees curiously. The forest did seem old, with thick trees that must have been growing for centuries if not longer.

"The dark forest has become a sanctuary for some of the oldest and most primitive demons. On the other side of the forest is a giant tree. Make it there and you pass the test. You have two hours."

Some of the people in their group backed away.

"I'm not getting near that forest, I give up!" a man in a martial arts gi, was the first to run away.

"Yeah, Genkai. I really wanted to be your student, but I kind of wanna live!" another ran off, then another.

Genkai laughed with amusement,

"Yes, run away. I don't blame you. Even a person with the slightest spirit awareness knows this forest will tear you into pieces if you let it." She smirked.

"There is some truth to what this woman says. Only those who have gone through the training should cross through these woods." A man with scars all over his face said, "It's no place for a boy, for instance."

"Speak for yourself." Yusuke huffed, "I'm not about to get scared off by a little walk through grandma's forest."

"Watch your mouth you dumb little brat!" Genkai said sharply.

Harry sighed, even Genkai didn't seem to be getting through to him. But Yusuke made a move to march up to the scar faced man. Before he could, Harry grabbed him by the ear.

"Yusuke, calm yourself." He said slowly, "I don't want to have to reprimand you."

"Yeah, kid. Listen to your girlfriend."

Yusuke froze and the aura around Harry went dark,

"I'm sorry. Did you wish to be reprimanded as well?" he asked.

There was a shudder that seem to travel through the crowd. Even the scar faced man who had been trying to get a rise out of Yusuke before was shifting uncomfortably. But Harry reined himself in quickly and turned away.

"Why do you have to suddenly go all scary like that, Harry?" Yusuke twitched, trying to get out of Harry's grasp.

Harry let his ear go, allowing him to stumble away.

"I don't know what you mean." He said.

Genkai was looking at Harry with interest, but didn't say anything.

"Best of luck." She said at last, "I hope you don't die…. ready, set…go!"

They all took off running through the forest, though Harry had to slow himself down exponentially to remain at the same speed as everyone else. Playing tag with Yoruichi was a lot more fun, he thought.

Genkai went running in front of them, at a nearly inhuman speed,

"Best of luck, I'll be waiting for you by the tree. If you're smart, you'll use your spirit awareness to find the quickest way." She added, then ran way ahead of them, speeding up.

Harry rolled his eyes, then turned through the forest, he'd probably end up having to wait for these guys if he wanted to pretend he was weaker than he was.

He effortlessly dodged around pits of snakes, traps and snares.

After Harry realized there were only twenty minutes' left, he decided it was about time he quit fooling around and made his way to the hill, running up.

Genkai's eyes watched him as he came jogging up.

"I had a feeling you were going to be first." She said looking him over, "It's clear to me, you've more power than the others. But whether you're better at fighting or have the brains to go along with that strength is the question."  
Harry nodded,

"I have a feeling you don't give compliments out often. I'll just take that as one."

Genkai snorted,

"Brat." She said.

Harry just sat down and gazed off at the forest,

"Looks like Kuwabara is coming." Harry said, sensing the red head's energy. He was getting closer, as were two others, but it was clear he would make it first.

"You can already sense them?" she asked him curiously.

Harry nodded,

"It's something I learned a while back." He said, deciding not to lie about it, he focused his energy allowing the spirit ribbons to appear. He grabbed onto Kuwabara's ribbon.

"I've never seen a technique like that before." Genkai admitted, "Who taught it to you?"

"A woman named Yoruichi Shihoen. I travel around a lot, so I've been learning anything people are willing to teach." Harry admitted, "It's interesting…I suppose you are already aware. But did you know that you have a demon in there?"

"Of course, that's Boldok. A bat demon."  
"I wasn't talking about him." Harry said, "You've told us before that there were demons in there. I was talking about the one among the contestants." He grabbed onto a purple spirit ribbon, "Unlike humans, a demon's spirit ribbon is purple. A Shinigami's is red…and so on."

Genkai nodded, and then concentrated her reiki. Harry watched as she summoned up a bunch of spirit ribbons around her as well, she grabbed one that was green.

"If humans have a white ribbon, a Shinigami is red, and a demon is purple…then what does this green one mean?"

Harry hummed, she really was strong it seemed.

"I'm human, if that's what you're asking." Harry said, "There is this small group of people who have green ribbons. That means that they have a special type of energy that isn't reiki."

"Interesting…did your people develop this technique?" she asked him curiously.

"No." Harry shook his head, "It's just something that's not commonly used here. But I think it's a pretty old technique." He added, "I've always found it useful."

Genkai nodded,

"I'll keep it in mind to use for later."

Harry just inclined his head to the side, then moved his attention back to the far side of the hill. Kuwabara had made his way out of the forest and he was running up. He looked around then saw Harry.

"Somehow, I knew you'd be the first one out." He said.

Harry just shrugged,

"I really hope Yusuke hurries up. He's been standing still for the past few minutes…looks like he's being attacked by a demon."  
"Wha?" Kuwabara wondered, looking back off towards the forest.

"He'll be fine…probably." Harry said, looking up at the sky.

"What do you mean probably!?" Kuwabara shouted.

"Well, he probably won't die." Harry said.

"You know, just 'because you say probably again doesn't make it better. Actually, I feel less reassured than I did before." He added with a frown, he made a move to run back down.

"Don't." Harry aid, causing him to stop, "He'll make it through. Just have a little faith. Besides, Yusuke would kick your ass and the demon's if you suddenly came to his aid. Oh, look, it seems he beat it already." Harry added, "See, he'll probably be here within the next five minutes."

"Again with your 'probablys'." Kuwabara grumbled.

A man in a red ninja outfit and the man from before with the scars on his face came running up. When they got there, the man in the red ninja outfit let out a growl,

"I thought for sure we'd be the first ones."

"We let ourselves have too much fun in there." The scar faced man said crossing his arms and smirking slightly.

Harry just rolled his eyes at their antics, while Kuwabara was shifting uncomfortably.

"Wait for me!" a cry came from over the hills. It was Yusuke and he was running towards then, a scratch on his face and a few cuts and bruises on his skin.

"Man…" he groaned, "I guess the straightest route isn't the fastest after all."

Genkai looked surprised,

"Surely you didn't go straight through the dark forest, you would have faced a lethal man-bat."

"You mean Boldok?" Yusuke grumbled, "Yeah, I faced him, he's gonna be a bit hung up for a while."

Harry face palmed at the awful pun. His eyes turned to Kuwabara and Harry.

"Let me guess. Harry was first?"

"Yeah, got it in one." Kuwabara confirmed.

"Figures." Yusuke said, lying down in the grass.

Six others soon joined them as Genkai watched her stop watch. Once the time limit was up, she closed it up.

"Times up. Only you nine have passed."

…

0000000000000000000000000

….

This time, Genkai led them down the hill to a stone path. They followed the path down towards a large building with huge dark purple doors. Red wooden beams seemed to make up the skeleton of the structure, and the stone base held it firmly in place.

Genkai walked up the four concrete steps and turned around to face the remaining eight of them.

"From here on you can forget about sympathy." She declared, "This will be a tournament between the eight of you until one is standing. You'll fight until your opponent is dead or incapacitated. I don't care which." She opened up one of the large doors, revealing a dark room, void of any light.

Then she opened the other door and the room seemed to become illuminated with the sunlight from outside.

"Come in now, walk." Genkai ordered gruffly.

They all entered and the heavy doors creaked close behind them, once again voiding the room of light.

"H-hey, what's with the lights?" Kuwabara demanded.

"Yeah, lady, you expect us to fight in the dark?" Yusuke asked.

Then, a small glow grew into light as a lantern lit up with a flame, revealing all those within a seven-foot radius.

Genkai took in a breath of cigarette smoke, then blew it into Yusuke's and Kuwabara's faces.

"Yes, you little crap. That's exactly what I expect. You must use your spirit awareness to see." She explained, "Use weapons if you want them, hit where you like. Anything goes. The winner is the one who can walk back alive."

Yusuke smirked,  
"Sounds like a typical Saturday morning street fight, huh Kuwabara?"

"I'm not sure, Urameshi. I've got a bad feeling about this, like…like some of the scary stuff in the forest has followed us here somehow, you know? Like a beast has followed me here but he's too afraid to attack."

Harry nodded,

"Very perceptive."

Yusuke frowned,

"Well that proves it then. After all those tests, Rando must still be after Genkai's technique…"  
"Who's Rando?" Kuwabara asked confused, "Is he the beast?"

"Something like that." Yusuke confirmed.

"Know how I said I was teaching Yusuke a bit?" Harry asked him, at Kuwabara's not, Harry continued, "Rando's a demon that Yusuke wants to beat up. He thinks he's among the students. And he's right."

"Well…I can't tell who it is." Kuwabara said, "It could be coming from one of them, but it's like the feeling is just hanging there…"

Harry rubbed the bridge of his nose,

"I could get it with my spirit ribbon technique." He said, "But doing that right now would blow our cover. Not to mention, Genkai doesn't care. She knows Rando's here, but if he wins, she plans on teaching him anyways."  
"What?" Yusuke whispered harshly.

Harry shrugged,

"All she really cares about now is passing on her technique. It doesn't really matter to her who it goes to. That's just how she is, I guess. So even if you did find him, you wouldn't be able to get him disqualified. I'd say the best thing you can do is beat him in this tournament she's putting on. At least that would be the easiest way." He added.

"At least that sounds simple enough." Yusuke smirked.

"Before we start." Genkai interrupted them, "You will all introduce yourselves and speak up!"

A man dressed in a kendo outfit was the first to voluntarily step forwards, he wore a black eyepatch over his right eye.

"Name's Musashi. I'm a fourth-degree black belt under kendo of shibato school. I hunt down evil beings and destroy them."

The next introduction was the monk kid who had spoken out a few times before.

"I am Sho Ren. A psychic in training. I have traveled the world in search of a perfect instructor."

Next was the scar faced man from before.

"People call me Kabano. I am a master in every style of martial arts and I live to test my own limits."

The next contestant was an older looking, rather plump man in purple robes and a hat with a curling moustache. He looked a lot like one of those stereotypical Chinese chefs…Harry had been spending his time in manga worlds way too long if he was coming up with those comparisons…only in manga.

"Jin Po the wanderer. Nice to meet you all."

Then there was the red clad ninja guy,

"I'm Kazamaru of the ninjas."

"I knew it." Harry said quietly, earning himself a strange look from Yusuke who was the only one to overhear him.

"I often work as a body guard of government officials." He added in, "I've been trained in the ninjutsu art of stealth."

Then there was a bespectacled man, tall with a good build, but looking rather plain.

"My name is Kurota. Contract killer."

Finally, it was Kuwabara who spoke up,

"Kazume Kuwabara, the worst punk at Sarayashiki Junior High."

Harry's lips twitched, realizing how unimpressive that title sounded in comparison to 'contract killer' and 'ninja.'

"Yusuke Urameshi. The much much worser punk of Sarayashiki Junior high."

Harry rolled his eyes, he should have figured Yusuke would try to one up Kuwabara.

"Harry Potter." He introduced, "I don't have any titles…except for 'the boy-who-lived' if that counts."

Yusuke and Kuwabara shot him a strange look, but their attention was drawn away when a group of arrows fell from the sky and landed, point first into the ground in front of them.

Genkai drew her cigarette out of her mouth,

"Now everyone, pick up the arrow you think is pretty. That will decide the order."

It seemed that Harry was going to go first, along with the contract killer. Joy.

"No stalling, you two. Step up to the plate!" Genkai ordered.

Harry shrugged, and made a move towards the darkness, only for the hitman to ask Genkai,

"Let's make this clear." He twirled two knives around his hands, "In my line of work I've been taught not to quit until they're dead."

"If you're asking about killing, I've already answered." Genkai said, "Feel free to use any force necessary to defeat your opponent and insure your victory."

"Yes, you've said that twice. But would you hold it against me if I turn out to be a cold-blooded killer."

Harry just watched on lazily as Genkai replied,

"Young man, I am a psychic, not a saint. I'll train whoever is strongest, regardless of any moral shortcomings."

"I'm very relieved to hear that." The hitman said, looking at Harry smugly, "So I can fight to my fullest without holding back."

Harry just rolled his eyes and turned towards the dark. The hitman followed closely behind Harry.

"Risking my life is the nature of my professor." The hitman said.

"What a coincidence." Harry said, "Mine too."

The hitman raised an eyebrow at this,

"I'm not like those other idiots. I won't underestimate you just because you're a kid." He readied his knives.

A small, and rather chilling smile spread across Harry's face,

"I'll let you in on a secret." He shunpoed up to his ear and whispered, "I'm older than I look."

The hitman's eyes widened and he slashed, but Harry moved out of the way and hit him in the chest, pushing him back. He let out a gasp,

"Y-you're a demon?"

"No." Harry shook his head, "I'm human." He put his hands in his pockets casually, "But I'm sure you've no need to hear my life story, so I'll make this quick."

He shunpoed forwards, then kicked him across the head before he even knew what was happening. The hitman lay on the ground, unconscious judging from his breath, and likely suffering from a concussion.

Harry walked back out of the darkness casually, hands in pockets.

"Winner, Harry Potter." Genkai announced as Harry walked up to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"So what happened?" Yusuke asked, "I didn't see anything."

Harry shrugged,

"Nothing much to say."

A couple of the fighters looked Harry over, obviously put out by the fact that he didn't have so much as a scratch after facing down a trained killer. They had definitely grown warier.

"He doesn't even look hurt…"  
"He was the first one out of the forest too. He might look like a pretty boy, but he seems to have some fight in him."

Harry ignored them in favour of closing his eyes and listening to the hum of energy that filled the air.

The next match was Jin Po, the Chinese chef guy, versus Sho Ren, or as Harry liked to call him, Monk Boy.

Harry watched their fight in the darkness, there was something off about Sho Ren…Harry tried to focus on the feeling a bit more. Could he be the demon? He came out of the fight limping.

"He almost had me." He murmured.

"Winner, Sho Ren." Genkai announced, "Onto the third match. Kuwabara versus Musashi."

Kuwabara stepped forwards, along with the weird samurai wannabe with the wooden sword at his side and black eye patch.

They walked off into the dark.

"Try not to get killed, Kuwabara." Yusuke called out lazily.

Kuwabara turned momentarily,

"Don't worry, I have to beat you before I die." He said, then continued his walk.

Harry watched the two of them, or rather, he sensed the two of them as they stood tensely.

"They're a bit mismatched." Harry murmured.

"Kuwabara's always had lots of determination." Yusuke said, though it seemed he couldn't see a thing, "Let's just hope that's enough for him to win."

"Yusuke, close your eyes." Harry ordered.

"Huh? Why?" he asked rudely.

"Just do it." Harry ordered.

"Fine." Yusuke grumbled.

Harry created a small spark of energy in his hand,

"Feel anything?" Harry asked, some of the other contestants were watching the two of them.

"Uh…sort of…like a warm feeling hovering…" he paused, then pointed to Harry's hand, "There."

"Alright." Harry nodded, "Now again, where is it?"

He moved his hand a bit further away and Yusuke pointed again.

"You can't actually be trying to teach him how to sense reiki now, are you?" one of the contestants asked.

"Hey, he may be strong, but he's relied a long time on his sight." Harry said not at all concerned, "I just want to give him a fair shot. Where's the energy coming from?"

"Um…" Yusuke furrowed his brow, "There." He pointed.

"Good." Harry said, then the energy in his palm dulled, "Can you still sense it?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem as strong." Yusuke said.

"Good, I'm going to dull it again." Harry said, and now he was holding only a tinny ball, like a firefly in his hand.

"That's some impressive control…" Someone murmured.

"Uh…there." Yusuke pointed to Harry's hand once more.

Now the spark in Harry's hand was gone completely.

"Now, without opening your eyes, where are the fighters?"

Yusuke's brow furrowed, and with two hands he pointed,

"One of them is on the ground…I can sense them!" he exclaimed, opening his eyes.

Harry just looked away. That was rather quick, he had to admit, he noticed Genkai looking at him once again with intrigue, but now she seemed pretty fascinated with Yusuke as well.

Her attention turned back to the fight.

"Remember that feeling." Harry said calmly, "Remember it, then use it in your fight. Watch these people battle with that spirit sense of yours, get used to the feeling while you can…and then fight…well, if you want to live that is."

Yusuke nodded, closing his eyes once again and sensing both Kuwabara and Musashi. Just then there was a huge burst of reiki and Kuwabara was holding a sword of yellow energy in his hand, illuminating the battlefield.

"What is that!?" the samurai wannabe exclaimed.

"Uh, I don't know!" Kuwabara shouted.

It made sense, Harry supposed he had such a high spirit awareness and such control over his reiki, he must have instinctually channeled it when he felt he was in danger. Impressive.

"Materialization." Genkai murmured.

"What the hell is that?" Yusuke asked, completely shocked.

"Normally, reiki cycles through the body and is very hard to control. But when his life was in danger he instinctively used his high spirit awareness to manipulate his reiki into a solid object. In this case, into a sword."  
Harry nodded along absently. He wasn't too surprised.

Kuwabara swung his sword as hard as he could, pushing mister samurai back into the wall. The man was knocked out while Kuwabara held out his sword, rather dazed,

"Pretty cool…but how am I supposed to turn it off?"

Kuwabara came limping out of the dark, holding his side.

"Winner, Kuwabara." Genkai announced.

His sword had dissipated and now Kuwabara was holding a wooden stump in his hand. It seems he had been using the focusing power of the tip of that wooden sword Mister Samurai had to create his energy sword.

He approached Yusuke,

"You better not lose before our fight." He warned.

"Please," Yusuke said, "Like I'd miss a chance to beat you up."

"Let's not waste my time." Genkai said, "The fourth match is Kabano versus Dimwit."

Kuwabara laughed at this,

"I think that's you." He told Yusuke.

"And I thought my name was Yusuke." Yusuke said smugly.

Harry just rolled his eyes, it wasn't going to be that easy for him. Yusuke and the man with the scars all over his face, Kabano stepped forwards.

"May the strongest man win." Kabano murmured to Yusuke, then stepped off into the dark.

Yusuke closed his eyes but stood still.

"What are you waiting for, Urameshi?" Kuwabara asked.

"Have you decided not to fight?" Kabano asked, turning back.

"Oh no, I was just praying for your mortal soul."

"Yusuke," Harry said, "The guy was being nice, and you decide to antagonize him. Get your ass in the ring, now."

Genkai was losing her temper with him. She grabbed the cigarette from her mouth and threw it,

"Moron!" she shouted and Yusuke quickly dodged to the side.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Any more delays and I'll take it as a forfeit." Genkai warned.

"Geez," Yusuke said, "Something tells me you're still upset about that 'grandma' comment." He took off his jacket, revealing a white tank top underneath, "You need to enjoy life more, old lady."

He turned around and walked off into the dark with Kabano. Harry let out a sigh,

"I'm sorry about that, Master Genkai." Harry apologized.

Genkai just grunted,

"That kid's infuriating."

Harry chuckled,

"That he may be." He agreed, "But there is something special about him, you have to admit."

"I don't have to admit anything." She said stubbornly.

The match began and Yusuke was immediately punched back. Harry let out a groan,

"Has he already forgotten what I showed him just moments ago?"

Genkai chuckled,

"I think you'll find that he can sense him, thanks to your little five-minute training session."

Harry perked up when he sensed Yusuke punch the guy right in the gut.

"It seems you have a high standard." Genkai said, "That's not a bad thing, but you ought to be more aware of others abilities, rather than simply comparing them to your own."

Harry nodded,

"Yes, I've been noticing that more and more lately." He admitted, "It's something I need to work on. But I don't want to baby people either. My gut tells me Yusuke can beat this guy."

"He probably can." Genkai agreed.

Yusuke punched the guy once again, two times, three times. The guy seemed to be wearing some sort of mask which was helping him focus his spirit awareness.

Kabano then began to pull in energy from the matter around him, enhancing his muscles.

"Hey, something weird is happening to Kabano!" Kuwabara said.

"He's enhancing his strength from the reiki around him." Harry explained to him, "It's a simple technique, but effective all the same."

"Wow, that's some weird stuff." Kuwabara murmured, looking back into the dark.

Yusuke was thrown back and a fist slammed into him. Once he'd stopped tumbling, he got back up shakily, Harry guessed that he'd broken a rib.

Yusuke needed to break that mask somehow. And then Harry smiled when he sensed Yusuke powering up his energy, an orb of reiki appeared in his palm and he slammed it down into the mask, breaking it in two and knocking him out.

Good, Harry thought to himself. He must have gotten the idea from the orb of energy Harry had created to help him sense where everything was.

Impressive.

Yusuke came limping back from his fight.

"Winner…the dimwit." Genkai announced.


	43. Chapter 43

**Okay, so…I still don't own Harry Potter, Yu Yu Hakushou or Fairy Tail. If that ever changes, I'll tell you.**

"Winner…the dimwit."

"That was close." Yusuke said walking up to Harry and Kuwabara.

"Hey, where'd you learn that orb thingy from anyways?" Kuwabara asked, hands on hips and shooting him a suspicious look.

"Hm?" Yusuke wondered, "Oh, Harry taught me a while back. Remember? I said he taught me a few tricks."

"Uh yeah." Kuwabara remembered, "That was kind of cool. Think you could teach me a few things, Harry?"

Harry shrugged,

"If you get the apprenticeship with Genkai then she'll be the one to teach you. If not, then I guess I can show you a few things." He decided.

Kuwabara grinned,

"Awesome!" he exclaimed.

"Alright kiddies." Genkai clapped to get their attention, "Let's start the semi finals. The first match, Kazamaru and Harry."

The ninja smirked,

"I've been waiting for this."

Harry gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

"We won't be fighting in here anymore." Genkai said and the two big doors opened up again, light shone through.

It took some of them a few moments for their eyes to adjust, but when they did, they followed Genkai outside.

This time they traveled down a different path from the one to the forest. It was an uphill trek and the ground had gone from dry to damp as they made it half way up.

They went downhill now and to a rather mucky looking plain. Well, actually it was more like a bog.

"Welcome to your new fighting ground." Genkai said calmly.

Kuwabara was looking ill, and he would be. The place was emitting an odd energy.

"Gya! What is this place!?" Kuwabara blurted.

"This is the site of an ancient battle. An entire army was overcome by madness." Genkai explained.

"I see." Harry said looking around, for some reason it made him feel very sad…such a place covered with blood.

"Thousands of soldiers attacked their own men. Restless souls fill this place." Genkai continued ominously.

Kuwabara took a step back,

"I'm seeing things here I never wanted to see!" he screamed then covered his ears, "Oh please, please someone take me home!"

Harry shot him a sympathetic look.

"On this site, reiki overtakes the body. It's perhaps the best place on earth to use reiki abilities."

Harry nodded, so now she wanted to see their different attacks and styles. It was definitely a good place to see how they incorporated their reiki abilities with their fighting styles.

"Excellent." Kazamaru said, his body glowing with power, "Their energy is circulating through me now. I feel stronger already."

"Yusuke, watch my bag for me." He said, placing the bag down beside

Harry and Kazamaru walked out into the field opposite each other and a fair distance apart.

"And the first match of the semi-finals, begins!" Genkai announced.

Kazamaru came at him right away, punching rather rapidly. Harry matched his speed and blocked with his hands. When he tried to switch up the rhythm by kicking, Harry raised his right leg and blocked the attack.

"I see you've had some training in martial arts." Kazamaru jumped back calculatingly.

Harry hummed slightly,

"Yes. I was trained to fight in a more martial style rather than street fighting."

Harry jumped up, using Kazamaru's shoulder, he was in a handstand. Quickly he got to the ground and tried to attack his legs, only for Kazamaru to jump out of the way.

"You're fast." He said, "But how fast? You sped up just now."

Harry inclined his head slightly, but didn't say anything.

"Can't get too close." He said, "Guess I'll have to…fight long distance!" he pulled out four shurikens from his robe. Harry's eyes narrowed. They were emitting a strange energy.

Kazamaru leaped up into the sky, then through the shurikens at him. Harry sidestepped each of them gracefully. His eyes widened, then he ducked.

The shurikens had come flying back.

"I see." Harry said, "They home in on reiki, or other types of energy too, I suppose."

Kazamaru smirked,

"So, you figured it out."

Harry turned towards where the shurikens were heading back to him and waited. He'd only seen this technique done once by Yoruichi.

"Hey, what are you doing, Harry!? Get out of the way!" Yusuke shouted.

Harry held out his hand and created a small amount of negative energy, then made it spin in the opposite direction. He grabbed it out of the air, then did the same to the other four, then threw them away. His eyes widened only slightly when they exploded.

It seemed that Kazamaru had put gunpowder some sort of explosive into his weapons.

"W-what? But…that's impossible!" Kazamaru shouted.

Harry ran up to him, then went on the offensive, he punched and kicked a few times for show, then knocked him in the head, sending him flying. He was out like a light.

Genkai seemed to hesitate a moment before saying,

"Winner, Harry Potter."

Harry walked back over to Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"What was that just now?" Yusuke asked, "I didn't even see you move, but you were holding those shurikens Kazamaru had been holding…"

Harry nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Next up, Kuwabara and Sho Ren." Genkai announced, though her eyes traveled over to Harry suspiciously.

"Yusuke." Harry said softly, "Sho Ren is the demon."

"What!?" Yusuke whispered harshly, then quick as a flash he ran up to Kuwabara and whispered something in his ear.

The red head seemed to get mad and Harry let out a sigh.

"Why are you here?" Genkai asked, her voice nearly made Harry jump, even though he had sensed where she had been.

Harry shot her a small half-smile,

"Am I that obvious?" he asked her.

"That technique just now, when you stopped Kazamaru's shurikens. You placed your hand beneath them, then sent a pulse of reiki but at a reverse polarity. Even though it's not necessarily a technique, it's something that could only be pulled off by a master."

Harry let out a sigh,

"I suppose I can tell you then…Yusuke and I work for Koenma…well, Yusuke does, I just tag along." He admitted, "We came here because we were informed that a demon had come here disguised as one of the people wanting to compete for an apprenticeship…I'll stay out of it now, if you'd like. But will you at least let me watch?"

Genkai huffed,

"Do whatever you want."

Harry smiled slightly, he got the feeling that she was just a big softy inside.

"You said you were just helping Koenma and Yusuke. Why?" she asked him.

Harry shrugged,

"Nothing better to do. I move around a lot. And every time I see someone, starting out like that…it's a little inspiring." Harry watched as Yusuke came running back over to them, grumbling something about how stupid Kuwabara was being. Harry smiled slightly,

"I'm going to have to go back one day though…Someday soon too…"

Genkai looked back at Kuwabara and Sho Ren,

"You're a strange one, you know?"

Harry smiled,

"So people keep saying."

Kuwabara ran at Sho Ren and punched him square in the face. Sho Ren fell over, looking like he was just about out for the count. Harry blinked. That can't be right.

"What? Harry, I thought you said that this guy was Rando." Yusuke's brow furrowed.

"He has to be." Harry said, also frowning, "That's the only thing that makes sense. If Rando had been anyone else, he would have already shown himself by now…"

So why was he struggling to get up and face Kuwabara again? Sho Ren ran at Kuwabara, attacking with kicks, punches. It was some sort of martial arts style, not a street fighting style like the one Kuwabara used.

Sho Ren got up.

"You still gonna fight?" Kuwabara took a stance.

"I'm not done yet, let me try a few techniques first." He backed away, then made a strange movement with his hands, he brought his two hands together and there was a small spark the ignited between them.

"The structure of the reiki around him is changing." Harry murmured.

He moved his hands apart, then together again. There was another spark. Harry's eyes narrowed, why was Kuwabara waiting for an attack? You should never wait for your opponent's attack!

Sho Ren held out his hand and a ball of red fire blazed to life in his very palm. It didn't seem to burn him, or harm him in any way. Then, in his other hand another ball of fire ignited.

"It couldn't be." Genkai murmured.

"Circles of inferno!" Sho Ren shouted.

He threw one of the fireballs at Kuwabara who clumsily dodged to the side. The other fireball was thrown and Kuwabara dodged again, patting himself down, afraid that one of them had hit.

"You're okay, Kuwabara. Stop giving yourself a pat down and get ready for his next attack!" Yusuke shouted.

"Would you shut up!" Kuwabara shot back.

But he didn't have any time to relax. Another ball of flame appeared in Sho Ren's hand.

"Fine, if you want to use your fireworks, then I'll use mine." Kuwabara quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out that shard of wooden sword he'd gotten in his last fight, then materialized his reiki sword. Harry raised an eyebrow, it seemed that Kuwabara could summon it at will already.

"Alright, you little shrimp. Batters up." He then held the spirit sword like a bat and Sho Ren through the fireball.

Kuwabara hit it, sending it right back at Sho Ren, causing the monk boy to go skidding back on his back. He was hit so hard that Harry was surprised he hadn't passed out…well, he would have been if not for the fact that Sho Ren seemed to be gaining more energy.

"I guess that's a homerun." Yusuke murmured.  
Sho Ren held his side, in pain. Kuwabara laughed slightly,

"Those pitches were pretty nasty, but nothing compared to the batting cages back home."

"Kuwabara's like a whole other fighter with that reiki sword of his." Yusuke commented, "I think he can beat this little punk."

"Then you obviously aren't paying much attention." Harry said, eyes still on the fight, "Close your eyes Yusuke."

"What? Again?" Yusuke whined.

"Just do it." Harry said, "I want you to see what's happening with their energies. I don't want you to be fooled by what your eyes are telling you."

Yusuke mumbled something, but closed his eyes regardless, then frowned,

"Hey, isn't Sho Ren supposed to be losing energy at this point?"

"Normally, yes." Harry agreed, "But Sho Ren is just a disguise, remember? Those stats he has from those games we played earlier, he held back on purpose, and he's still holding back."

"Okay…" Yusuke said, then looked at Harry, "So Kuwabara's in trouble…how do we get him out of it?"

"We don't." Harry said simply, "Or rather, we can't. This is a fair competition. Genkai said nothing in her rules about disguising our skills when we first came. So, he's still following rules."

"What about you?" Yusuke asked him.

"What about me?" Harry blinked.

"You're out of the competition, aren't you? I'm not blind. I saw how the old lady's been treating you." Yusuke said.

"Yes." Harry agreed, "I withdrew. It wouldn't be fair, having someone who is already a master, skill wise to go on. Not to the other contestants. Genkai knows I don't have any intention of becoming her student. So, she let me quit."

"But…" Yusuke said, "I mean…"

"You can do this, Yusuke." Harry said confidently, "I believe you can…but what you need to do, is believe that you can too. You've grown at an astounding rate as a fighter over the past while. Just remember what I taught you, and remember all those brawls you've had in the past, and you should be fine."

Though Harry could understand. In the past, Yusuke had had Harry to lean on whenever things went south. It would be interesting to see what he'd do without his help.

Sho Ren was chanting, though Harry couldn't make out what he was saying exactly. It was clear though that there was reiki in those words. Reiki directed at Kuwabara.

"What in the heck are you muttering about over there?" Kuwabara growled, "You might as well speak up."

But Sho Ren continued his chant, which seemed to be making the line of reiki between him and Kuwabara a lot stronger.

"Yes, I thought I recognised where that fireball attack was from." Genkai said suddenly, drawing Harry's and Yusuke's attention, "Ages ago, two masters spent half their lives perfecting the circles of inferno and…this chant."

"What's…this do?" Yusuke asked, uncharacteristically cautious.

"That isn't the point." Genkai said, eyes narrowing, "What matters is that the only ones who could have taught this boy have been dead for centuries."

"Old lady," Yusuke said, "You've just proven something for me once and for all. That chanter's definitely no boy."

Sho Ren's eyes had turned red, and his chanting was getting louder,

"I'm shutting you up, boy. You're freaking me out." Kuwabara charged at him, ready to attack with his reiki blade, when finally, Sho Ren cried out,

"Reduction!"

Then, the oddest thing happened. Kuwabara began to shrink. Down and down he went, until Harry couldn't even see him. Sho Ren knelt down, then picked something off the ground. It was Kuwabara, he was about the size of a doll.

He began squeezing Kuwabara in his hand, hard.

"So…does this hurt?"

Harry winced, rather certain that Kuwabara had just broken a good number of bones.

"There's no way he can pull out of this." Yusuke said worriedly, then shouted, "Kuwabara, tell him you're backing out of the fight!"

"Oh, but that just cannot be allowed." Sho Ren said with a sadistic gleam in his eye that would have made Bellatrix Lestrange proud, "I have to make use of this power first." He squeezed Kuwabara tighter, causing the shrunken boy to cry out in pain.

Sho Ren chuckled happily, then tossed Kuwabara up and caught him,

"I'm curious about the strength of bones after they've shrunk. I'll start with the right arm." He grabbed Kuwabara's arm then began putting pressure on it.

"Kuwabara!" Yusuke yelled in horror.

"Please, no more!" Kuwabara begged.

Then the arm snapped backwards.

"Call the match." Harry told Genkai.

The old master nodded,

"That's enough, Sho Ren!"

Sho Ren laughed,

"All right…" he drawled.

"You bastard!" Yusuke shouted, then went running at Sho Ren.

Sho Ren turned, then threw Kuwabara. Harry's eyes widened, he shunpoed over to him, and gently caught him out of the air.

Sho Ren chanted again, then said,

"Restore." Kuwabara grey back to his full size.

Harry, with his magic, scanned him over, using a wandless diagnostics charm. Harry grimaced,

"His condition isn't good." He waved his hand around, and Kuwabara's body began to float.

Harry carried him over to where his bag was, out of the battlefield, then set him down as gently as possible.

"What technique was that, just now?" Sho Ren asked Harry greedily.

"It's called Wingardium Leviosa." Harry said coolly, then reached into his bag and riffled through his potions.

"You can heal him?" Genkai asked Harry curiously.

"I can try." Harry said, focused solely on Kuwabara.

He took out some skele-gro, some pain relief potion, some organ regeneration potion, and the draught of living death.

First Harry fed him the draught of living death, making sure he wouldn't wake up. Then, after fifteen seconds exactly, Harry fed him fourteen drops of skele-gro.

He placed a hand over his arm, then set the bone properly. He then used healing kidou on his ribs, making sure they were properly set as well so the potion worked properly.

"Is he going to be alright, Harry?" Yusuke asked, not taking his eyes off of Sho Ren.

"He'll be fine." Harry said, "I can fix him up, but I'm going to be keeping him in a special coma so he doesn't have to suffer through the pain needlessly."

He started working on the organs, they weren't too bad, but with his body working overtime on healing other parts, he didn't want to risk something rupturing.

He fed him three drops of organ regeneration potion, then looked over his other wounds as Yusuke and Sho Ren started fighting.

"I can already tell; you've healed his bones." Genkai said, looking down at Harry and Kuwabara.

"Mostly." Harry said, "He broke quite a few of them and damaged several organs. What worries me is his spinal fracture…I'm healing it now but…"

"You should take your own advice." Genkai said, "What you said to Yusuke, trust in yourself. Right?"

Harry nodded, then got to healing the fracture. He knew he could do this…he could. He smiled when he realized the damage was almost completely gone. At least Kuwabara would be able to walk again…He used healing kidou to do the rest, then reached into bag and pulled out the antidote to the draught of living death and tilted Kuwabara's head up, feeding him the potion.

Kuwabara coughed and sputtered a few times.

"Wha? Hey, what happened?" he looked up at Harry and Genkai, "Uh…"

"You were injured badly in your fight." Harry said, "How are you feeling?"

"Uh…I feel great." He said, "Actually, I feel better than I have in a while."

Harry nodded,

"Alright, can you wiggle your toes?" Harry asked him, concerned about the fracture he'd found in his spine.

"Uh, yeah." Kuwabara nodded.

"Move your legs for me, but don't stand up yet." Harry ordered.

Kuwabara moved his legs. Harry nodded, satisfied by this. He cast a wandless diagnostics charm, which caused his hand to glow with white energy. Once he was satisfied he gave a small nod,

"You seem to be alright."

"Impressive." Genkai murmured, "Healing abilities of that level are nearly unheard of…Just where did you learn all that?"

Harry smiled sheepishly,

"Well, a variety of people I suppose. I worked in a sort of mercenary guild a while, and they always came back with bruises and injuries of sorts. I got pretty fast doing that…then I learned Kaidou, a healing technique from a man named Tessai and a woman named Unohana. Herbal remedies, the ones that I showed you I learned from a man named Severus Snape…I absolutely hate that man." Harry sighed, shaking his head, "Oh, but the diagnostics and a couple of other things I picked up from a woman named Poppy Pomfrey."

"Wow…so you really know a lot of doctors." Kuwabara said scratching his head and trying to figure out how this was relevant.

"Healers." Harry corrected, "They didn't use the sort of medicine most people used. They used Reiki techniques, and other energy techniques, herbal medicines infused with…something else, which helped people heal."

Genkai looked Harry over once again,

"Such knowledge and power would take years to learn. And it's certainly not something a fourteen-year-old could become a master of."

"I'm not a demon like Sho Ren, if that's what you're asking." Harry waved away, "But you are right. I'm older than I look."

Just then Sho Ren jumped up in the air, casting a powerful air-vacuum technique. Harry's eyes widened as Yusuke dove straight into the attack.

"I don't know where he got the will to endure that sort of pain." Genkai said, "But he's making it into the eye of the tornado."

Harry watched with fascination as Yusuke flew forwards, jumping through the slicing wind and towards Sho Ren. He crossed his arms, hitting Sho Ren's nick and forcing him back down to the ground by his windpipe.

Harry's eyes widened, was Yusuke's reiki actually increasing? Still?

They hit the ground and Sho Ren's eyes were closed painfully in his now unconscious state. Yusuke slowly stood up, panting.

"I got him." He said, "And he wasn't joking about the pain."

He turned around and started walking back towards them.

"Yusuke, your fight isn't over yet." Harry said.

Yusuke's eyes widened and he turned around. Sho Ren's body was sinking into the ground while deep laughter filled the air.

"Oh dear." Harry said, not really all that worried.

Genkai just grunted non-comically at Harry's attitude. The ground shook, then began coming apart and a blue light shot into the air. Rando appeared out of it, a demon with green skin and brown cracks along his chest, red hair and a blue spider-like design over his face.

"This is my true form, and now that I've seen it, I'm going to have to kill you all." He smirked.

"Aw man." Harry moaned and Genkai shot him a look. Harry just shrugged,

"What? I wasn't planning on dying today, you know?"

Genkai rolled her eyes,

"No, I don't know. Now shut up, brat."  
Harry laughed a little at this.

"So that's Rando?" Kuwabara asked with awe.

"Yup." Harry nodded, then tilted his head thoughtfully, "Well, probably. It's not like he flat out stated he was Rando."

"He did." Genkai shot him a glare, "You weren't listening."

"Well, I guess that solves that then." Harry nodded, unhelpfully.

"This is always the hardest part." Rando said walking over to Yusuke, who wasn't doing too well at all, he collapsed to one knee. Rando smirked,

"Choosing which technique to use first." He stopped, now standing right above Yusuke, "Perhaps you can give me a good suggestion."

Yusuke glared up at him, clenching his fists,

"Shut your mouth." He growled.

Harry had to applaud him. It took guts to say something like that in such a desperate situation. He then started punching the demon at a rather impressive speed. But there was no power behind his attacks, and Rando looked bored. Rando slapped him aside and Yusuke went flying back.

"Alright." Rando said, "I just thought of the perfect technique for you."

A strange sort of sound seemed to hum through the air, then millions of threads began to slowly make their way out of his mouth. Like a spider spinning its web, Harry thought. They moved into an orb, surrounding Yusuke.

"Uh, what's that?" Kuwabara shivered.

"That is life force thread." Genkai said calmly, "An archaic form of materialized reiki no doubt taken from a very ancient psychic."

The demon chuckled, delightedly, then grabbed the ends of the threads from his mouth and they all bundled up together into these writhing tendrils that struck at Yusuke from several different directions. Yusuke dodged the first two strikes, but then the tendrils split into smaller segments and wrapped themselves around his arms, legs and torso. The tendrils glowed, then merged into one large tendril that wrapped around Yusuke's arms and torso, binding him.

"I can't…move!"

"Yusuke!" Harry shouted, "You have the power to defeat him! I can see it. You just need to believe in yourself!"

"H-Harry!" Yusuke shouted back, then looked down, eyes widened.

The demon though, chuckled,

"He doesn't have anything. His reserves are completely depleted." He smirked, "Needless to say, I could crush him right here…but I'd rather test my techniques."

Harry's eyes bore into Yusuke,

"Yusuke. You know I'm right."

Yusuke looked up, meeting Harry's gaze. But Rando snorted and the web-like tendrils around him began to squeeze, hard. Yusuke bit his tongue, trying to hold back his screams.

"Yusuke, focus." Harry said firmly.

"Focus…" Yusuke repeated weakly, he closed his eyes, then, to both Genkai's and Rando's surprise, he began to glow with blue energy. It came off of him like flames.

"This boy…" Genkai murmured, then looked at Harry, "You taught him, didn't you?"

"I've only known him for…almost a month now." Harry admitted, "Not enough time to give him any serious training, but enough to give him some basic survival stuff. I want him to find a real teacher, though. I rarely stay in one place for long, and I'll probably be leaving soon."

"So, you brought him to me." Genkai said.

"Well, it was actually Koenma who did that." Harry shrugged, "Everything after that was a happy coincidence."

The thread-like tendrils around Yusuke began to break apart.

"Impossible!" Rando shouted.

Yusuke glared at the demon,

"No…it's not." Then he was free and the threads were no more, he aimed his two fingers at Rando, "Hadou no yon, Byakurai!" lightning shot out from his fingers, nearly hitting the demon, but just missing…no, wait, there was a mall graze.

Rando snarled,

"You have caused me pain, and I don't like that!" he charged forwards and kicked at Yusuke who was flung off to the side.

Yusuke groaned, then tried to get up.

"That technique just now…what was that?" Rando growled.

Genkai looked at Harry who smiled slightly.

"It's your technique isn't it?"

Rando turned,

"What?" he snarled.

"Yes, Hadou number four, pale lighting. It's one in a set of ninety-nine Hadou techniques. Number one being the weakest and number ninety-nine being the strongest." Harry agreed.

Rando looked at him greedily,

"And that was number four…so then number ninety-nine must be…"

Harry just tilted his head to the side, and Rando growled at his lack of attention, then he was slammed into the ground by Yusuke who held out his two fingers,

"Hadou no yon, Byakkurai!" it hit him head on this time and Rando let out a scream.

"I have never seen a technique like that before." Genkai said, then looked over at Harry, "You say there are ninety-nine of these."

Harry nodded,

"Yup, and I'm probably the only person in this world who knows them…well, other than Yusuke who knows two Hadou spells and two Bakudou spells." He waved.

Genkai grunted, then turned back to the fight. Rando barely had any strength left, it seemed. Harry smiled slightly, he'd done well giving him the little amount of training he could…

Yusuke kicked him, then punched him sixteen times in rapid succession. Then finally, got him with an elbow drop.

Harry hummed, it looked like Rando was out for the count this time. Yusuke was huffing and puffing as he got up shakily,

"And…stay down." He mumbled, falling back onto his butt.

"You gonna call the match?" Harry asked Genkai.

The old master nodded,

"The winner of the Genkai Tournament is…Yusuke Urameshi!"

Kuwabara looked over at Harry,

"Uh, could you teach me to shoot lighting from my fingers too?"

Harry laughed,

"Maybe…I'm gonna be leaving soon…but Yusuke will be training here for six months so…I guess I could stick around and give you a bit of training."

"Alright!" Kuwabara laughed.

"W-w-wait, six months?" Yusuke asked, turning green.

"That is what this whole tournament was for, Yusuke." Harry rolled his eyes, "And if you don't train hard, then Kuwabara here will probably surpass you…oh dear, that wouldn't be good, would it?"

Yusuke growled,

"You aren't going to do the same thing to him as you did to me…are you?"

Harry smirked,

"No. I can think of much more…interesting methods to get his reiki up to par. I bet he'll be able to cast up to a Hadou thirty when I'm done with him."

"Your mean twenty-six levels higher than the lightning spell Yusuke used?" Kuwabara's eyes gleamed.

Harry shrugged with a smug smile on his face,

"Probably…oh, and let's not forget Hohou and sword fighting. It just so happens that I know quite a bit about sword play, and that does seem to be your style, right?"

Kuwabara nodded eagerly.

"Guess we'll see you after six months, Yusuke." Harry grinned, then started walking away.

Harry's words seemed to have just the effect he'd intended on the punk.

"Oh yeah! Well I'll train extra hard. There's no way Kuwabara will be able to defeat me!" he yelled after them as Harry walked away laughing.

"Keep telling yourself that." Harry waved and Kuwabara laughed as he followed after his new teacher.

At least this would be interesting…plus, Harry had some training of his own he'd have to do…


	44. Chapter 44

**Okay, so, I wrote in a little extra something due to a recommendation from setokayba2n. Thank you for the suggestion! After you mentioned Ranma ½ I couldn't get it out of my head for some reason. It might be a short one, but…we'll see.**

**I do not own Harry Potter, Fairy Tail or Ranma ½ **

The rest of the three-day weekend, Harry started pushing Kuwabara through some training he'd devised on his own. They started off at an abandoned lot that no one went to, and Harry started with simple hand to hand combat.

"You can't just rely on that sword of yours all the time." Harry told him, "If you don't have a weapon, then what will you do?"

Kuwabara was basically beaten, and though Harry wasn't necessarily found of beatings, he knew that Genkai was going just as hard, if not harder on Yusuke.

Harry showed him the proper way of circulating his reiki, correcting him every now and then. When school started up, Harry started tutoring Kuwabara in school as well. The two of them started spending nearly every single moment together. And Harry wouldn't have him not attending school when he had to sit through it as well.

His grades slowly went up, and soon he'd managed to make his way into the top fifty. The only time Harry reserved for himself was an hour before bed when he began focusing on his animagus transformation. Yoruichi had given him some pointers on how he ought to circulate his energy in order to make the transformation work.

After a month, Harry had started Kuwabara on speed training, which both of them actually seemed to enjoy. It was just a simple game of tag. Harry had decided to do this as a sort of treat as well when they started up sword training in Kuwabara's third month.

"You shouldn't actually need that sword to fight." Harry said, the boy had gained a lot of strength over the time they'd spent together and Harry knew he would be able to materialize his sword without much trouble. He just needed to trust himself a little.

In their fourth month, Harry could turn into a raven at will and back again. He had done it.

He continued practicing though, every day, going for a fly outside. Kuwabara managed to materialize his sword right around the time he'd made it to their mid-fifth month of training.

Just before Yusuke came back Harry decided it was about time he left.

"You'll come back, right?" Kuwabara asked.

"I will." Harry agreed, "I promise."

Kuwabara smiled,

"If you don't come back, I'll kick your ass."  
Harry chuckled slightly at this,

"I'd like to see you try."

….

000000000000000000000000000000

….

In his apartment that night, he called on Ana.

"I've learned my lesson." He said, and the cat-bus materialized right in the middle of the apartment, Ana was sitting inside and waving through the window.

"All aboard!" she announced.

Harry smiled, then got on the bus.

"So." She said, "You've taken on the roll of a teacher, have you?"

Harry shrugged,

"I suppose I have, at least in that world." Harry smiled, "To be honest, I think I learned just as much as a teacher as I did a student."  
"Hmm…" Animetopoeia hummed to herself, "That makes this next world a bit more logical…I guess." Her face took on a serious look, "Be warned, the last person I sent to this world came back with a curse."

Harry raised his eyebrow with intrigue,

"So, it's another world with magic?"

"It is." Animetopoeia nodded, "But not the sort you're used to, I would guess. You'll be attending High school again. I really feel that I should warn you, this is a comedy…and its absolute chaos, not like the other worlds you've visited before at all. There is no logic in this world, and I suggest not spending too much time there."

"Okay." Harry said slowly, it wasn't often Ana gave him a warning. And he'd been to worlds with ghosts, demons, and super powered wizards. Which probably meant there was something very wrong with this world.

"Alright…" Ana said slowly, "I managed to push this one back…but I can't hold it off any longer, so…here we go."

Harry tensed as the catbus gave a yowl and took off running.

There was a flash of white light, and suddenly Harry wasn't sitting on a seat in the catbus, but on a freshly made bed in a small apartment. He let out a breath and cautiously looked around.

It was time he got some groceries and basic necessities. Reading over Ana's newest letter he found that his new school would be Furinkan High. There was a uniform waiting for him hanging of the closet door. The teachers would be expecting him the next day.

….

0000000000000000000000000000

…

Harry had thought himself rather well adapted to the anime worlds. He could speak Japanese almost as well as he could speak English now. Ana had switched off the instant translation that came with his previous worlds, but it had been a gradual adaptation, like a frog slowly being boiled from tepid water.

He'd barely noticed the change these days. The customs were different, but he had gotten used to them quickly. The humor was strange, but started laughing along lately.

Harry introduced himself to his new class, wearing the normal uniform, spelling out his name in katakana on the board. Nothing too strange had happened yet, but he was still on guard.

There was a reason Ana had warned him about this world, and he was not going to be caught defenceless just because he hadn't been paying attention. There was one boy in his class that didn't dress in the standard uniform. Harry might have dismissed it had it not been for the powerful energy that spiked off the boy every now and then.

It wasn't magic though, it was more like reiki or reiatsu. It was trained though, more so than Yusuke's had been, though not at Ichigo's level, and certainly not at Yoruichi's or any of the captains. Hell, he wasn't entirely sure he was at a seated officer's level.

Then again, Harry had been gaining more power, training as much as he could as of late, and he was comparing the boy's powers up against his own.

He was anxious, like he was waiting for something, and every now and then, the girl only a few desks away would shoot him worried looks.

The school bell rang, signalling lunch and Harry took out one of his homemade bentos. He kept his ear open, listening in on the boy's and the girl's conversation.

"The old goat's late. He must be too scared to fight." The boy humphed.

Harry raised an eyebrow, wondering all the while why he wanted to fight an old man (or woman).

"Do you think you'll be okay, Ranma?" the girl asked warily, it was clear she didn't believe that whoever they were waiting for was actually afraid.

"He is our father's master." The girl continued with a frown, "And Shampoo's great-grandmother warned you, too."  
The boy turned to her, and in Harry's opinion he kind of gave off an air of arrogance.

"The old freak will be a push over." He dismissed.

Something seemed to catch the girl's attention as she pointed to something outside the window,

"What's that?"

Harry felt a strange energy approaching. It was a powerful source of reiki, more powerful than Ranma's anyways.

Shouts were coming from outside the window, and Harry decided that now was his cue to take a look, along with the other students who seemed to share a weary interest.

"Kya! Robber!"

"Somebody catch him!"

An old man was running on the roof of a long, hall-like runway towards the school. He held a large bag in his arms, slung over his shoulder that had to be at least three times his size.

Harry noted that it was all girls that were chasing him, and rather angrily too.

"Ah! It's the old freak!" the boy, Ranma exclaimed, then jumped out the window.

Obviously, he had no concerns over secret identities or hiding double lives like Ichigo and Yusuke. He landed on the roof bellow just as the old man threw his bounty at the boy.

"Ranma, catch!"

Ranma caught it, stumbling back, confused. He fell backwards off the roof and onto the hard cement bellow and the bag opened up revealing a bunch of red bloomers. Obviously, girl's gym wear.

"Oh dear." Harry said as the group of girls began kicking and hitting him with brooms.  
"Give that back!"  
"So you're in on it too?!"

Harry grimaced, he knew the guy could take it, but still…

The old man, who might have been a gnome, snuck around the back and started smoking a pipe while Ranma got free. He was acting like the whole thing had never happened.

Ranma snuck up from behind him and knocked him off his perch,

"Hey! Look at you acting like nothing happened." He said coolly, but there was obvious anger in his voice.

The old man jumped right back up,

"Is that anyway to treat your elders?"

This seemed to annoy Ranma further,

"Did you come to school to steal gym shorts?" he was practically shouting now.

The old man closed his eyes, putting a finger to his head in thought,

"Let's see…" he trailed off, he seemed to realize something. He crossed his arms over his chest and sat down in the lotus position, "I could have sworn there was another reason."

By now Ranma was shaking with rage.

"Let me refresh your memory!" he punched forewords, but the gnome leaped up into the air, crossed his legs and sat on his outstretched arm.

"Oh, that's right, I came for a fight!" he tapped his pipe up against Ranma's fist and jumped off.

"Ouch!" the boy grabbed his burned hand in pain.

"Now you've done it!"

The man leaped away, running off into a crowd of students as Ranma chased after him, trying to hit him.

The old man leaped into a tree and taunted Ranma to come get him. Ichigo and Yusuke had been much better at keeping a cool head than this guy, Harry observed.

"Fight like a man!" Ranma demanded, and Harry got a sudden reminder of Elfman.

"Only on one condition…" The old man grinned perverted, then took out a pink-white bra from behind his back, "As I said, if you lose, you'll turn into a girl and model for me."  
Harry frowned, wondering what he meant by that, he decided to voice his thoughts in the hope that someone would answer his question. Someone did.

"Ranma's got a curse." A boy in their class said absently, obviously focused on the fight, "He turned into a girl when cold water is dumped on him. He turns back into a guy when hot water's dumped on him."  
Harry was beginning to understand Ana's warning. He wondered how something like that had happened.

Harry decided to go down to the grounds outside like his other classmates, losing sight of the two fighters for a bit. But when he did get outside with some of the other students who had gathered around, he caught sight of the old lecher flipping up girl's skirts.

Ranma seemed to take the downfall for the man's actions, getting punched in the face by said girls as he tried to run after him.

The girl Ranma had been talking to before lifted the gnome up by the back of the neck, obviously angry,

"Just what do you think you're doing?"

The man sheepishly pressed his two index fingers together,

"Ah…just making the match more interesting."

"You call this a match?" she scoffed.

"Well, it's Ranma's fault for not wearing the bra!"

"How is it his fault?" Harry couldn't help but asked, causing some of the students to look at him. The old man looked surprised.

"What? Doesn't that seem even a little bit unfair to anyone? Wearing a bra is humiliating for a guy. It's like that saying, if you want to kill someone, be willing to put your own life on the line. In other words, if you want Ranma-kun to do something humiliating, then you have to be willing to do something humiliating in return if you lose."  
Ranma blinked in confusion,

"Uh…who are you?"

Harry blanched and the girl shot Ranma a glare,

"He's the new transfer. He introduced himself this morning!" she hissed.

Harry let out a sigh, deciding he ought to just ignore it all,

"You set the terms of having Ranma wear a bra if he loses, now, Ranma should be allowed to set the terms if you lose."

Ranma blinked in surprise, and Harry got the strange sense that he hadn't actually thought any of this through.

"I think," Harry began, "If Ranma wins, you should return all the underwear you stole. Of course, that's just a suggestion. I'm sure Ranma could come up with something else if he wanted. And of course, if you don't agree to this, then neither does Ranma. He can always choose to not set conditions. It's just a match after all, right?"

The old man's eyes narrowed at Harry, then focused on Ranma,

"Very well." He said in an overly serious tone, "Set your conditions, Ranma."

The boy looked thoughtful, eyes moving back to Harry wearily.

"Er, I think…I like the condition um…"  
"Harry Potter." Harry stated his name, realizing Ranma had forgotten.

"Right. I like the conditions Harry set." He decided, "If I win you have to return all that underwear you stole."  
The gnome's eyes grew watery,

"How could you make me do something so cruel?" he asked sadly, crocodile tears falling down his face.

"Are you going to accept the terms or not?" Ranma asked impatiently.

The old man sobered again,

"I shall accept."

Harry shook his head, moving back towards the ring of students that had formed around them.

They both stood across from each other, the gnome was still holding the pink-white bra in his one hand. Then the old man broke into a tantrum,

"You have to keep your promise! If you don't I'll cry, and I'll tell your dad on you!"  
Ranma face faulted,

"Fine already! Are you gonna fight or not!" he charged.

Harry wasn't surprised when the old man leaped over him effortlessly, then placed the bra over Ranma's face, causing him to spin around without any idea as to where he should go.

Ranma tried grabbing the man's hand, only to be flipped upwards and sent flying. The bra had come loose and was floating downwards. The old man made a grab for it, only to be kicked from above.

The old man burrowed in the ground.

What was he? A mole? He'd only ever seen Virgo dig that fast, though she could do a lot faster, it was still impressive.

Harry moved the girl beside him out of the way and kicked just as the old man popped up.

"I'm not your opponent, and neither is this young lady." Harry said, sending the old man backwards and blinking in confusion.

"T-Thank you." The girl blushed.

Harry shot her a smile before returning his attention to the match. Ranma was looking at him with surprise on his face. He hadn't even seen him move…

"Well then, time to get serious." The old man called Ranma's attention back to the match.

"What? You were pulling your punches?" Ranma frowned, disbelieving.

The old man held his hands behind his back and turned his head to look at Ranma,

"A quick match is boring for the spectators." He answered simply.

"He's right." A boy in the crowd said passionately.

"Don't tempt me…" Ranma growled, his anger growing.

"Behold! The world's most powerful invincible force!" the old man announced, "The spirit of the Anything-Goes Martial Arts!"

He crossed his arms inwards and his body began to glow, radiating reiatsu. The girl Ranma had been talking before, not too far away from Harry, let out a gasp.

A large demonic shape took form in the air, glaring down at Ranma, ready to strike.

"W-What an incredible battle aura." The girl whispered.

Harry didn't bat an eye. If he had to make a comparison…it was a bit less than the strike Ichigo had released when he had first taken down that Menos.

But to Ranma, it really was an unstoppable force. He was frozen on the spot. The old man cackled,

"Something wrong, Ranma?" he taunted.

"Ranma, snap out of it." The girl said.

The old man took the bra out of his pocket, a perverted grin on his face,

"Can't wait to see you in this little number, Ranma."  
Ranma's eyes widened, apparently, wearing a bra was scarier than the old man's aura because he charged forewords, faster than before, throwing punches at an impressive speed.

The old man caught him with his pipe, then threw him into the air.

"Ranma!" the girl shouted worriedly.

He landed on the ground, on his back several meters away. He sat up right away, but it was clear he was feeling the hopelessness of the battle. He knew he was losing.

He stood back up.

"Oh? Still standing even though you're wrapped in my aura. Impressive." The old letch said condescendingly, "Now it's my turn. Get ready!"  
He launched his aura forwards in a burst of energy. Ranma let out a scream, and some of the students looked away or covered their eyes.

"One two, one two, one two!" the girl's track team passed by their circle and the old gnome got distracted, quickly chasing after them, abandoning his attack midway.

"Un, frecken, believable." Harry shook his head, probably the only one who had seen what had happened.

"The…old goat's gone?" Ranma wondered, looking around in confusion.

"Ranma!" The girl from before ran up to him, also confused, "Are you alright?"  
Ranma fell to his knees, not believing what had just happened and staring down at the ground,

"He's…no ordinary lecher."  
"He went after the girl's track team." Harry said, walking up to them.

The girl looked confused,

"Eh? How did you know?"

"I saw him abandon his attack." Harry shrugged.

Ranma narrowed his eyes at him,

"Hey you're…a martial artist, aren't you?"

Harry nodded,

"I am." He confirmed, "I used to practice martial arts at my old school in Britain." He lied, sticking to his story, "Why do you ask?"

"Er…" Ranma shrugged, "I saw you take out the old man. I didn't even see you move…"  
Harry hummed to himself,

"There will always be people out there that are better than you. Fact of life."

"Well, I'm gonna be the best one day." Ranma said proudly.

Harry raised an eyebrow, that didn't seem like a very solid goal. He had seen those people that fought to be 'the best' and none of them got very far. Those that truly succeeded had something they fought for. For Ichigo it had been his friends. For Yusuke it had mostly been a matter of survival while he worked under Koenma, because his work required it, though Harry got the sense his reasons would change at some point.

When Harry didn't say anything for a while, Ranma frowned,

"Will you fight me?"  
Harry thought about it, then shrugged his shoulders,

"I guess." He said, "But you're a bit beat up from your match with the old man, how about we set a date for another time? Say…tomorrow, if you feel up to it?"

Ranma nodded eagerly.

"Ranma!" the girl shouted, "You still haven't defeated Happosai and you're already challenging people to fights?"

"Well, why not?" he asked the girl.

"Um, right." Harry interrupted them before there could be a fight, "So, my name is Harry Potter, I'm from Britain originally, but I've been traveling for the past few years. It's nice to meet you, now do you think I might get the name of my challenger and his friend? Or…girlfriend?" he wasn't sure about their relationship.

"He's not my Boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" they both yelled at once, rather angrily too.

"Alright." Harry said, raising his hands defensively, and a little unsure. He must have hit some kind of nerve.

"Sorry for the confusion. I didn't know your relationship, and if you were dating, it seemed insulting to call you friends."

The two of them calmed down.

"Ranma Saotome, number one martial artist." He said proudly, and more than a little bit arrogant.

"Akane Tendo." The girl introduced.

Harry nodded to them each in turn,

"It's nice to meet you both." Not really, he thought to himself. He looked up at the clock and realized lunch was almost over.

"Oh, class is about to start." Harry said, "Er, see you guys later, I guess." He quickly ran to the doors, leaving the two behind.

"He seems interesting." Akane commented, then looked over at Ranma, "Do you really think you can beat him?"

"Of course, I can!" Ranma said, puffing out his chest, though part of him actually felt a bit wary. There was something a bit strange about Harry Potter. Something powerful, maybe even a little dangerous.

Well, he'd just have to see in their fight tomorrow.

"You shouldn't have done that."  
Ranma jumped into the air, the turned around to see the old pervert standing behind him.

"There you are!" he raged, "Just what do you think you were…"  
"That boy," the old man interrupted, eyes narrowed and taking on a serious look, "Is very powerful." He took a smoke from his pipe, blowing the haze from his lungs calmly.

"That's why I want to fight him!" Ranma said exasperatedly.

"Wait," Akane cut off, she knew the old man was a pervert, but she got the sense that he really knew his stuff when it came to martial arts.

"What do you mean?" she asked him cautiously.

"That boy…" the old man stared over to where Harry had disappeared, "He pulled that girl away as soon as I hit the surface and kicked me away. He covered her up before I could even get a glimpse. He shouldn't have been able to do that. If I were to make a guess, I would say that boy is a master. Though to find one so young is unheard of." He took another smoke of his pipe.

"A master…" Akane trailed off worriedly.

"Yeah, well, I'll just have to defeat him then." Ranma said determinedly, "I've got until tomorrow to train. See ya, Akane!" he waved running out through the gates.

"Wait! Ranma! We still have school!" Akane called after him, only huff when he vanished.

"Let him go." The old man said calmly, "He'll need all the help he can get."

Akane watched him leave the school grounds, running down the street and away from her to start on his training for the next day.


End file.
